Another Road Taken
by TheBug11
Summary: A series of what could be stand alone's all based in the same AU, Skye was raised by May and Coulson and thrived, becoming a top SHIELD agent. This is story lines rewritten and pats retold. Some quiet lengthy and some rather short and definitely not in order.
1. Chapter 1

The sky was so beautiful tonight. The deep reds soothing Melinda as she looked out the window of the high rise safe house herself and her partner currently reported to. The Deputy Director was to be meeting them within the next half hour to pick up the 084 Melinda and Phil had just recovered. As she looked back down at the little baby wrapped in her arms it was safe to say Melinda was not expecting the small infant to be the 084 they were sent in to recover. The little girl was seemingly out cold in her arms, clutching Melinda's pinky tightly in her little fist. Melinda couldn't help the smile that played in her face, as she watched the infant sleep. The little girl had finally stopped fussing when Melinda had swaddled her tightly in a blanket and fed her, falling asleep after Melinda burped her as she rocked back and forth at the window. Melinda continued to rock gently, she would never say it out loud but Melinda loved babies. As she heard Phil approach her she could tell by the his small grin that she didn't need to say it out loud, Phil could read it all over her face.

"She's adorable" he said as reached them, placing his hand on his partners elbow, and looking down at the baby girl.

"How is a baby an 084?" Melinda's question was a quiet murmur as she stared down at the baby. Her eyes roaming over the baby girls face taking in every feature. The little scruff of dark brown hair on the top of her head to her chubby cheeks. She had a thin set of lips and Melinda knew underneath those eyelids held the biggest chocolate brown eyes she had ever seen. Melinda could guess that this little girl was definitely biracial but she was so curious to how she ended up here. In a SHIELD safe house having just been extracted from a lab in South Boston.

"What could have possibly made a baby so important?"Melinda wondered and it wasn't until she felt Phil look up at her again that she realized she said it out loud. "Phil we just got pulled off an 11 month cover op… To rescue a baby, and blow a building that had at least twenty people still in it" Her unasked question just hung in the air, she could feel Phil staring at her as she looked down at the infant. "This is no life for a baby" she whispered, stroking the baby's cheek with her index finger softly.

"Lin" Phil studied her face like a hawk as she looked up at him. She knew Phil had learned to read her quiet well, just buy looking at each other they could have an entire conversation without uttering a word. There were still some occurrences though, where Phil would whisper her name softly, asking her to please tell him what she's feeling, and he would always wait so patiently, scanning her face sharply. This seemed to be one of those times, only Melinda didn't know what she was feeling to actually tell him. She just looked down at the baby and stroked her cheek again. So many things were flooding her senses that she couldn't make heads or tails of them. What stood out the most was the overwhelming need to protect the little life in her arms. As she tried to make way headway in these strange emotions she heard a knock on the door. She felt Phil squeeze her elbow before making his way to the door, grabbing his glock off the end table before looking through the peephole on the door before swinging it open to reveal Deputy Director Nick Fury, Phil's old SO. Melinda nodded at him from her place by the window, and he turned back to Phil as the door shut, Phil giving him their mission debrief. That was one of the things about Phil that always put Melinda at ease. He did all the talking, he always had since they'd met. Melinda's gaze returned back to the infant in her arms and she found those chocolate brown eyes staring back at her. The little fist clutching her pinkie pulled tighter. The little girl didn't make a peep as Melinda continued to rock her, holding her tightly to her chest, just stared up at her with big doe eyes. Melinda stroked her cheek again with her finger and the girls eyes never wavered from her face. Melinda started to absently listen to the other two men in the room, though her eyes never left the brown ones gazing back at her.

"Our cover wasn't blown per say sir, but it remains to be seen if it would still be a viable option to send us back in" Phil was explaining to the Deputy Director. Though his voice remained steady Melinda could hear the underlying frustration in his tone, Fury must have been skirting around the answers he wanted. Melinda couldn't blame Phil though, she wanted answers for their current situation too. "Though I feel if we wait too long our return will only be met with suspicion and discovery, at this point I would say there is nothing to gain from trying to reestablish our cover, we have enough information to work with to send the proper teams in now"

"Agent May and yourself won't be returning to your cover, I'm going to need this 084 taken back to the group home, St. Agnes Orphanage. We will reinstate the program that will keep it moving through the system every four months, for its own protection, so it won't be easily found. Following the results of your extraction there should no longer be any threats, the program is just precautionary. After that I'll need you two to report to HQ complete your mission files and debrief on your cover op, take your mandatory three weeks off following a deep cover assignment, and never speak a word of this 084 to anyone" As Fury finished, Phil seemed to be at the end of his rope.

"It's not an 084 Nick! It's a damn child! A baby!"

"A baby that leveled an entire village Coulson! We don't know what it's capable of! In the wrong hands it could cause global devastation! Keeping it hidden and moving are what's best for it!" Fury seemed to pull a file out of nowhere, slamming it on the table before sliding it to Phil. To Melinda's surprise all the noise never upset the little one in her arms, those brown eyes just continued to stare up at Melinda and grip her pinky while she moved to read the file over Phil's shoulder. What was in that file wasn't pretty, this child, pulled from the wreckage, and entire town massacred. Agent Avery dead and her partner missing. It seemed like everywhere this little girl went bodies followed. The words that Phil spoke next startled Melinda, who was expecting a different response to the answers they had just been given.

"She" He said quietly. "You keep calling her an it, it's a baby girl Nick, and there's no way to prove that she's the one that caused all that damage, she was just found in the wreckage. What you're suggesting is a life no child should ever be given" His tone was so quiet but Melinda could feel the heaviness in his gaze as she watched her partner stare at their boss.

"Do you have any other ideas Coulson?" Fury quipped, clearly irritated with this agents lack of submissiveness.

Melinda answered before Phil could even find the words. Everything that she had been feeling earlier seemed crystal clear in that moment. "We'll take her" Melinda finally spoke, her voice soft and her gaze never left the brown eyes looking up at her, she smiled slightly, the index finger stroking a rosy cheek again.

"Excuse me Agent May?" The deputy regarded one of his top specialists with nothing other than stunned confusion.

"We'll take her" Melinda finally brought her gaze up to level with the one eyed deputy. "The building they were keeping her in and all the people in it were blown to pieces. Like you said there shouldn't be anyone left to look for her, and even if there is they'll think she died in that explosion too. Should the need ever arise she'll always be a blink away from SHIELD. Our three week down time will give us plenty of time to get settled with her, we've been radio silent for eleven months, with the right story it would believable for us to come back with a baby, she's clearly biracial and only a few weeks old, there would be no reason to doubt that she's ours " As Melinda finished Fury just continued to look at her with stunned disbelief. She took a second to look at her partner only to find Phil watching her intently, his questioning gaze from minutes earlier replaced with one of mutual understanding. Questions and answers were passed between the two of them in silent conversation before Phil gave her the smallest of nods. Phil felt his lip twitch up into a barely there smile as he watched Melinda with the baby girl, she just returned his gaze. He couldn't begin to figure what he was feeling, but the however bland the description may be the closest he could come up with was warm. It started in his chest and just radiated outward, he could almost laugh at how incredibly soft he and the woman holding his gaze had become, they extracted that girl mere hours ago and they both were already so attached that they couldn't fathom the thought of letting her go. Melinda finally dragged her gaze away from her partners to meet the Deputy Director's again just as he seemed to find his words. When he spoke he sounded resigned as if he knew that if Melinda suggested this there was no changing her mind, she was already one hundred percent positive.

"Agent May, this won't be just another mission, you are two of the best agents I have, hell, the best team I have, I know you two are close, most partners are, but I can't ask two agents to play house with a child for the rest of their lives. I know Coulson would follow you blindly just about anywhere May but this isn't something I could possibly ask of either of you" Fury said, finally leaning against the table, the entire conversation becoming less hostile as Phil sat on the arm of the sofa, turning to face his old SO as Melinda stood behind him. He could feel her hips still swaying softly to soothe the baby in her arms. This time it was Phil who responded to Fury's exasperated tone.

"You aren't asking sir, we're volunteering, and with all due respect sir, I sometimes believe all you see is the Agents we are instead of the people, you forget far to often that Melinda and I are married. We don't _play_ anything when we leave SHIELD after a hard days work, it's our life, Sir and we wouldn't step into something like this so blindly. We've been talking about starting a family for while now, and that's exactly what that baby needs, a family, and we are more than willing to give it to her" Both agents watched as Fury digested everything Phil said and they watched as his expression changed. He may be the Deputy Director, but he was also their friend. Phil was already starting to be referred to a his 'one good eye'. He knew something like this would have come up eventually, he felt the same way about this as he did when Phil came to him about the two of them getting married. He knew there were things they'd have to work out after all he wouldn't break up his star team, but they would figure it out, Melinda and Phil always did. Fury just sighed, and stood up straight.

"We'll have to get all of her papers sorted, birth certificate, social security, and doctor and hospitalization files for Agent May. It would be best that the knowledge that she isn't biologically yours never leaves this room, not even your families. For her safety and yours. I'll leave it up to you two as to who within the agency knows you have a child but I suggest you keep it as small as the number of people who know you're married, but I'm sure you already know all of this. Take six weeks instead of three, get settled and take time to enjoy yourselves, you deserve it. And were going to need new covers for your files, I won't have my best agents weaknesses as easily accessible as a personnel file." Both agents nodded rapidly as he spoke. "Stop by my office tomorrow before you leave and we'll settle everything"

"Yes sir" Phil said quickly, and Fury looked between the two of them before his eyes lingered on Melinda, she was still rocking the infant gently, watching as those brown eyes began to droop again. Fury just nodded once before exiting the room, the automatic lock clicking on the door after it shut. Phil made his way over to his wife, and she drew her gaze away from the baby to look up at him as he stopped in front of her.

"This is our daughter" As he looked down at her the smile that Melinda loved so much took over his face, his eyes were sparkling. He looked back up at Melinda, his admiration for her shining clearly through his eyes.

"She is" Melinda's smile mirrored her husbands. She was completely aware that both of them were standing there smiling at each other looks fools but she couldn't bring herself to care. "What should we name her?" As Phil looked at his wife, watching her hold that little girl to her chest- _their daughter_ Phil found himself adding a thousand more reasons to the already infinite list he had of why he loved the woman standing in front of him. As Phil looked out at the skyline again he and his wife silently watched as the reds started to turn deep violet.

"Skye" It slipped out of Phil's mouth so quickly it surprised him how natural it felt. Melinda met his gaze with a soft smile before looking back down at their new daughter.

"Skylar" Melinda's finger stroked the little girls cheek.

"Skylar Mae" Phil rebutted. "Beautiful just like her mother" His smile held so many different feelings that Melinda felt like she was drowning in them. Drowning in happiness. She chuckled at how soft they'd become.

"Skylar Mae Coulson" Melinda finished looking back down at the baby, when Phil made a soft tutting noise she looked back up at him, confused. His face had grown quite serious and his eyebrows were bunched together in a disapproving manner.

"She needs a middle name" Phil's voice changed, taking on a very feminine tone with a thick Chinese accent. "Every May woman is a Qiaolian" It would have startled Melinda how much he actually sounded like her mother had she not heard the imitation numerous times. Melinda just shook her head and looked down at her little Skylar Mae.

"Skylar Mae Qiaolian Coulson" Melinda's voice was so incredibly soft and warm Phil almost did a double take when she spoke. He couldn't resist the urge to pull her toward him, placing a kiss on the crown of her head before doing the same to his little mini Mae. "Mommy and Daddy love you so much already baby girl" Melinda couldn't stop the tear that escaped when that little baby smiled up at them.

* * *

Phil knew it was unbelievably corny, but he was pretty sure that as he listened to the soft words pouring out of his wife as she cooed to their new daughter he would never be able to top this moment. He had absolutely no idea how in the course of five hours he and Melinda could go from agents on an extraction op to two new parents but he had a feeling it had a lot to do with those big brown eyes that just seemed to engulf you when you looked into them. But as he shuffled around the safe house, packing up their things and shutting everything off to leave, he felt the overwhelming urge to take his family home. Phil paused to look up at his wife, she was still beaming at Skylar and he knew this would never be something they regret.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Pilot**

Skye could barely suppress a smile when the door of her van was yanked open and she saw her father standing there with an agent she's never met. Though she was saved from blowing her cover with her facial expression when a black bag was roughly put over her head. She was kind of excited to see her parents new digs, she hadn't seen them in almost six months. She'd been placed on and off this undercover op in the rising tide for almost three years, making relationships and gaining trust, hacking into designated SHIELD files, keeping these 'hacktavists' away from the files that really did go bump in the night. She knew someone would be out to see her soon, she left the same address on both videos, hoping to draw SHIELD's attention to project centipede. Clearly the bag over her head meant she was supposed to carry on with her cover story. Hopefully though, she would get a second with her parents, she originally took this op to give her parents some 'us time' after her dads 'accident' as Skye liked to call it. She for one didn't like to remind herself her father had died. Skye hadn't expected the cover to last this long this go around, and she missed them more than anything, back door emails weren't enough for her, but seeing her Dad standing in front of her, tampering his grin down to a small smirk had Skye letting out a small huff under her hood and letting a large smile take over her face. Her training had kicked in and she knew she was in the back of a SHIELD SUV, when the vehicle stopped and a strong arm grabbed her out she knew it wasn't her father guiding her. Without her previous knowledge of it, she could tell she was on a plane, with each set of stairs she acted as clumsy as possible, she was just a young trouble maker hacking SHIELD from a laptop in her van, she wasn't a level nine agent who had graduated at the top of her academy classes, with a phD, 4 black belts, and a pilots license. When her hood was yanked up and she was forced in a chair she stopped herself from smiling and had the decency to look scared. Her eyes immediately trained to the man who hadn't changed her diapers, assessing his threat level. She could tell by his build and posture that he was a specialist, and to be on her father's new team he had to be a good one. She could also read his body language, and it was clear he was not used to teamwork, if they were trying to work together it wasn't very convincing. He clearly needed to hear Fury's 'one man' speech.

"You're making a big mistake" She said, deciding to go with the usual.

"You don't look that big" The agent quipped back. 'Oh, he's funny, if only he knew'. Skye thought. Her father looked at his fellow agent with reproach before he spoke up.

"Sorry for the lack of finesse, Agent Ward here has a little history with your group... The rising tide" His voice was calm and steady while Ward continued to glare at her from his position at the senior agents side.

"I don't know wha..."

"Okay there are two ways we can do this" Skye felt her sarcasm bubble at his lack of approach, her father watched, just the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

"And is one of them the easy way?" She quipped.

"No" His face remaining impassive.

"Oh" Skye played along, looking worried. This whole stint made it crystal clear that she was meant to keep her cover, though she wasn't sure why she wasn't informed before she was 'aprehended'… something she'd have to take up with her S.O. when she reported next.

"What's your name?" Phil finally questioned. She looked around with faux apprehension.

"Skye" She answered timidly.

"What's your real name?" Ward questioned, and Skye decided this whole bad cop thing wasn't really working for him.

"It can wait" Phil response was quick, almost too quick making Skye's gaze turn to him. "There's another name we need, a certain hero" Skye just looked at him dubiously.

"What makes you think I know that?" She just shook her head. Her training told her they needed to protect this guy but her cover told her the hacktivist she was pretending to be would never hand over such information so easily. She'd have to go along until Phil gave her a reason to give it up.

"Well, you made a little mistake, the phone you filmed the hooded hero with had the same cryptographic signature as a few of the rising tide posts" She's worked with her dad enough to know that he was teeing it up for her up to play right along with her cover.

"Wow, yeah, was that a mistake or am I now sitting in the center of your secret headquarters? What is this a plane? I got inside, and by now you've discovered you can't beat the encryption on my equipment so you got nothing" She finished with a smirk. She missed having these little matches with her dad.

"We have a fairly strong coincidence, you being on the scene right before it went up in flames. Wanna tell me what my team is gonna find there?" He answered, dropping the file in front of her. Implying she could have blown up the building, he was good. Skye just glanced at the file before looked at him scared again. "How did you know the hooded man was in the building?"

"Did you blow it up to draw him out?" Ward threw in walking right up to her so she had to look directly up at him. Skye was appalled at his interrogation tactics, she knew everyone couldn't be trained by Romanoff but wow.

"Did you?" She snarked back.

"That's not our style" Phil answered.

"I was just kidnapped by your style" Skye quipped, and she heard Ward huff, 'Oh, he was one of those guys', she thought. "SHIELD covered up New Mexico, project Pegasus, of course you'd be covering up centipede" She continued, waiting to see the reaction her got. She watched Ward take a step back and rub his ear, mouthing centipede to Phil. Skye was stunned, she's been leaking it to them for months, how had they not discovered it yet? Could she have been any more clear? She was out of contact for six months only communicating through rising tide posts, and only two check ins with her SO and they really hadn't found centipede with what she had given them. Had all of that work been for nothing? She let her shock shine through as she decided to mock them. "Holy no way" she smiled. "You don't know what that is, billions of dollars of equipment at your disposal and I beat you with a laptop I won in a bet?" She asked as if it was ludicrous. Her father played right along, though Skye could see his masked confusion.

"You need to think about your friend, we're not the only ones interested in people with powers. We'd like to contain him yeah, the next guy will want to exploit him, and the guy after that will want to dissect him" Phil continued, and she acted as if what he said really did scare her, as Ward placed a hand on the table to lean down in her face.

"What is centipede?" Skye figured he was supposed to be scary, but she couldn't help but spare a glance at the hand he was resting too much weight on and the tie dangling too close to her. She could use that desk to give him a concussion before he could even blink, but she guessed he didn't think she was ' _that big'._ She upheld her scared face but she could feel her hand twitching to yank that tie so she pushed her chair back suddenly. She saw Ward glance at Phil and he just shrugged as if to say 'let's see where this goes' . Ward backed off and sat in the flight chair as Skye began to pace.

"Centipede, it was chatter on the web" Her father watched carefully, knowing her tone meant they were dangerous. "and then gone, I traced the access point back to that building" she explained.

"What were you after?" Ward questioned, she wanted to question why he would interrupt a suspect instead of letting them continue, you always learned more when they continued.

"The truth" She quipped back irritated at being interrupted. "What are you after?"

"World peace" She looked him up and down as he stood up, his snark belaying the fact that he thought she was full of crap, also that he was about to blow this interrogation. "You sudo anarchist hacker types love to stir things up" He continued as Skye looked at him and she crossed her arms urging him with her eyes to continue 'Just keep digging buddy' she thought. "But you're never around for the fallout" He said walking up until he was inches from her "people keeps secrets for a reason Skye" She let his closeness intimidate her.

"Well just because you're reasonable" She poked him hard in the chest. "And firm" She continued. "Doesn't mean that you're not an evil, faceless government tool bag"

"Just give us your guys name" He huffed, and she withheld her smirk, she was getting to him, which she decided was what she wanted.

"He's not my guy!" She huffed right back.

"You understand he's in danger" Phil butted back in, though he meant it to mean something different, the warning on her fathers face clearly meant 'stop pushing buttons'. Skye had seen it too many times to mistake it. Skye just turned to face him instead of Ward.

"Then let me go! Let me talk to him! Me, not the T one thousand here" She said, gesturing to Ward.

"You want to be alone with him, of course" Ward said as if it explained everything and made his way closer to Phil "She's a groupie, all this hacking into SHIELD tracking powers" Ward explained, Skye watched her father shake his head and contain an eye roll. He obviously didn't know what to took to hack shield, let alone from a laptop in a van. "She might as well be one of those sweaty cosplay girls crowding around Stark tower" he finished as Phil pushed himself out of his chair.

"What!" Sky rebutted, offended, but she couldn't resist. "I would nev- one time" She said as Phil opened the door.

"Ward" He said, making it clear he was to follow. As soon as the door closed Skye smiled. She knew they would be back relatively quickly, they were on a plane so whatever her father was getting to make her looked dooped into telling them her info couldn't be too far. She hoped she'd get a chance to find out why Ward was such an awful interrogator. Skye almost laughed to herself when she realized her father never introduced himself, only Ward and she wondered how good Ward could be if he never caught it too. She sat herself back down in the chair Phil had just vacated schooling her features to look apprehensive and waited for them to come back.

* * *

When they came back in and stood in front of her Phil was holding a injection gun and a vile of green liquid. 'ah, the good old truth serum' she thought, this would be fun, she knew her father couldn't use it on her, it would blow her cover, so she covered her anticipation with apprehension.

"This is Q-M-B-T sixteen" Phil said, holding up the vile. "it's the top shelf martini of sodium pentathlon derivatives, it's a brand new and extremely potent truth drug" He explained as Ward came behind her placing a hand on her shoulder as she squirmed looking frightened then glared at her father. "Don't worry the effects only last about an hour" He finished as Ward walked over to the other side of the table.

"Then you'll have a nice little nap" He tone was too smug. This was obviously going to be his punishment for royally butchering the interrogation, not that he knew that. He was setting himself right up. "And we'll have all the answers of- Hey! What the hell?" He said as Phil jammed the gun into his arm, dispensing the serum.

"I'm sorry, did that hurt?" Phil had the decency to look remorseful.

"No!" Ward exclaimed, a little upset "But you've lost your mind! You should never do that to a member of your team! And yes, it did hurt a little bit but I always try to mask my pain in front of beautiful women because I think it makes me seem more masculine. My god! that stuff works fast" He said siting down, Skye thought 'you're not so bad yourself hot stuff' as she gaped at her father. She knew it was coming but it still got her every time.

"Don't trust us, ask him whatever you'd like" Phil smirked at her before he turned to leave.

"Wait, you can't just, this is definitely not protocol" Ward exclaimed as Phil closed the door, he then turned to look at Skye, as she removed her vest, pushing her chest toward him.

"You seem nervous Agent Ward" And Skye totally noticed his eye lingering on her chest before looking back at her face. As she leaned forward on the table an unmistakable smirk on her face.

* * *

"Did Agent Ward give you anything?" Phil asked as he watched a slumped over Ward on the security feed.

"He told me he's been to Paris but he's never really seen it, and that he wishes you stayed in Tahiti" Skye answered as she made her way into what she could only assume was the planes command center.

"It's a magical place" He smiled as she reached him at the computer table. She covered her grimace at his words by observing all of her surroundings, seeing if any other agents were around. When she met his gaze again her father smiled widely at her, and she couldn't help but return it.

"Hi Daddy" She said before moving in for a hug, he wrapped her up tightly in his arms.

"I missed you, Skylar Mae" He murmured quietly before he pulled away to assess her like he does Lola for any damage. Finding none he just smiled and kissed her forehead. "The rest of the team should be back any minute, Hill will brief you later but you're to keep your cover, I'm supposed to offer you a position, that's all I know. Your mom... she's got her agent face on, so don't read too much into it, you know that's not her" Phil told her softly. Skye nodded, it had been hard on all three of them for the past eight years, Especially Skye and her mother. After their mission in Bahrain her parents came back different, mostly her mother. She was still her mother, but not like Skye used to remember, where mischief used to sparkle in her eyes it was now dull, and she wasn't as warm as she used to be, her mother was getting better, Skye knew that, especially after Phil died. She had come a long way, but Skye knew she would never be the same. Skye sometimes had to look to her father for reassurance, that the person she was to everyone else wasn't her mother. That the cold and silent, stony faced woman she was to everyone around them wasn't in fact her mother and though she was barely still the woman she used to be, she was still Skye's mother, and Phil's wife. He must have known she'd need it now, before she saw how her mother was with field agents. Skye gestured to the screen in front of them and her dad played the clip of Mike in the factory on the news report.

"That's not him, not the guy I met, he just needs a brake" Skye said looking at her father.

"Then let's give him one, what have you got?" Skye put the license she snagged off Mike on the computer table and waited as it scanned. She heard the rest of the team making their way up the ramp and moved a respectable distance away from her father, looking at the holocom in front of her as if she'd never seen anything like, when in reality, she helped Tony Stark program and encrypt these bad boys.

* * *

"Agent May will escort you, and on your way out wake up Ward" Phil said and Skye knew exactly what he was doing, giving them a chance to say hello. Skye looked at her mother and with a single nod she made her way back down to ramp and out to the hanger to wait for her there while she woke Ward. She smiled as he mother made her way back down the ramp, she knew they didn't have much time but she still wanted a proper hello instead of the stiff glare she accepted as Agent May's form of introduction. As soon as Melinda came around the side of the vehicle Skye's arms were around her.

"Momma" She whispered into her shoulder as her mother held her tight.

"Hello to you too Baby girl" Melinda let out a soft chuckle, rubbing her daughters back before pulling away, giving her daughter the same once over Phil had. "Your father didn't tell me it was you we were picking up, I think he wanted to test me just for kicks" Melinda told her and this time it was Skye's turn to laugh.

"That's dad" Skye smiled before her face turned serious. "How is he? Really?" Her tone revealing her skepticism. She watched as her mother's face morphed into an expression that Skye knew meant she was about to imitate her husband.

"It's a magical place" Melinda's voice morphed to sound creepily like her father's.

"So he's the same then" Skye nodded before walking to the opposite side of the car to get in as her mother did the same and they took off. Skye just smiled, she's an only child, it has always been just her and her mom and dad, and she was happy to be right back where she belonged- with them.

* * *

Later that evening Phil snuck Skye into his office and as she suspected Commander Hill's face filled the screen in front of her. Before Phil could close the door behind himself Skye turned to him.

"I'll get you when I'm done" She told him softly, knowing he wouldn't like being ushered out of his own office. She heard the Commanders faint chuckle as she watched her father's eyes narrow, then he threw a look over her shoulder at his sister on the screen before nodding and leaving, closing the door behind him. Skye turned around to face her Aunt and smiled.

"Commander Hill"

"Agent Mayson, sorry for the lack of notice at being picked up by SHIELD six-one-six. When we picked up the information you were sending through Director Fury thought it would be more useful to keep you on hand" Maria told her getting straight to the point. "Your orders are to keep your cover, we believe it would be a more useful asset for you to remain a contracted asset than a highly ranked agent for the time being" Skye read between the lines almost instantly.

"Who?" Maria just chuckled at her niece, the young woman was by far one of the best agents she had, and that isn't even her being biased.

"That's for you to find out, according to Fury it's just a hunch, but you know as well as I do what that means. Agent May is there to monitor Coulson, she has a direct line to Fury if need be, but Coulson isn't who he wants you to keep an eye on. Wether its on the plane or off, you need to keep your eyes and ears open, and report anything you see or hear to me, even if it's just an itch, you're good, Fury knows that and he trusts your instincts" Skye nodded her head rapidly trying to assess the information she was given. Monitor and report.

"Is there anything in particular I should be looking for?"

"Anything out of place, no one can know what your true objective is, Agents Coulson and May have already been informed you are to keep your cover and everything else is classified. Agents below level eight don't even know who you are and the offhand that some do it's only your name on our tech. Fury has always wanted to keep it that way for this reason. Triplett and Morse have been sent your cover sign on the chance that you run into them and anyone else can be spoken too if need be but mostly you'll find yourself on six-one-six. Fury's direct words were to only break your cover if a situation is life threatening" Maria answered and Skye scoffed she knew she was going to get a vague answer but damn.

"Yes ma'am. I'd like to request the personnel files of Ward and Fitz-Simmons along with academy records and field reports" Given that she was an expertise in pattern recognition and analysis she knew this wasn't something Maria would have a hard time giving her. She would need as much data as she could get. "Are we to resume this method of report?"As she got the affirmative from Maria she watched as the older woman hit a sequence of keys on her side of the screen but didn't disappear indicating that their transmission was no longer recording.

"I don't like Ward" The statement made Skye's eyes narrow. "I can't make anything official, but by the look on your face you felt it too, so it can't just be his flourishing people skills" Maria huffed and Skye just nodded in agreement.

"I'll keep an eye on him, maybe see if I can be a trainee, get him to be my SO?" Maria just nodded in agreement. "Does Dad know Mom is here to report on him?"

"No" Skye let out a small huff.

"Well that will go to hell in a hand basket later"

"All of it will, which is why he can never know what we do" Skye just nodded at her Aunt in agreement. Skye hated keeping secrets from her father but she knew this one was better left that way. "How is your mother in the field?"

"I have a feeling she'll be requesting to be more than just the pilot soon, if she hasn't already, she won't like seeing Dad in danger, and while they both know I can take care of myself, playing a defenseless hacker will revert both of them to the way there were when I was five. You should have seen the way Mom took down the Centipede rent a cop earlier" Skye just rolled her eyes to convey her point as her Aunt laughed. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them" Maria nodded at her words, some of the tension easing off her shoulders. "How have you been?" Skye questioned her Aunt "Still ridiculously busy?"

"Fury's toned it down a bit, I've been keeping tabs on the Avengers mostly, Banner is holed up with Stark at the tower, god knows what they're getting into. Nat went with Clint to see his family. Steve has been off the grid, checking in every other week" Maria probably shouldn't be telling her this, but technically her niece had the clearance and she was for the most part friends with half of the Avengers anyway. When she noticed the large smile overtaking her nieces face she realized her mistake immediately.

"Steve huh?" Skye's smile didn't look like it could get bigger but somehow managed to. "You better not tell Dad you're on a first name basis with Captain America" Skye was full on giggling once she got that out and Maria couldn't help but laugh with her, she knew her niece could keep a secret so she just raised a perfectly arched brow.

"Little more than a first name bases" Skye bit her lip hard so she didn't squeal but her eyes were sparkling so much Maria thought she might cry.

"He is such a hunk" Skye finally got out. "I mean really, I am so proud to call you my Aunt right now" Maria just laughed, glad she had told Skye, she could use some laughter after all the work she's been putting in since New York.

"It was only dinner and a kiss goodnight, Skylar Mae" Maria tried to say seriously, Skye just giggled more.

"Dinner and a kiss that will lead to more dinners and kisses and bow chicka wow wow" This had both women laughing again.

"Okay, this conversation needs to end now" Maria said, though a large smile remained on her face. "Stay safe and be careful Sklar Mae and I love you" Skye's smile got even brighter.

"Ditto, Love you too Aunt Maria, over and out" She said before the screen went black. She schooled her features quickly, she couldn't wait to find a moment to tell her Mom about this. She found her father down in the lounge, she assumed everyone must be asleep. She nodded at him and he got up to follow her to her bunk. He glanced around before entering with her. She turned to face him and he just smiled softly at her.

"Your mother requests you for tai chi in the hanger at four AM" Skye huffed a bit but nodded. And her father squeezed her arm gently. "We're glad you're here Mae" He said before kissing the crown of her head and leaving her to get some rest.

* * *

 **AN: Hey all! Just thought I'd give a little more detail after the first couple chapters! Most of the story will be episode AU's or tags like this one, some will be of my own creation.**

 **I always saw Skye as being held back by the foster system hence her advanced skill set in this story. Her high clearance level is sort of a riff off Quake being level 10 from age 17. Excuse the CaptainHill references, I'm a sucker for it. There will be another chapter somewhere that will explain Hill being Coulson's sister, if you were wondering. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I Feel Different**

Skye took a walk through the plane noting everyone's location before she made her way up to the cockpit, it would still be weird for her to be seen actively seeking out Melinda so she made sure to cover her tracks before she poked her head into the cockpit. She opened the door quickly and shut it just as fast after she slipped in.

"So are you gonna talk to Dad or am I?" Her mother's only response was to flip on the autopilot and turn to face her daughter with a raised brow. "Dad ordered those tests himself" Suddenly Skye knew the reason behind her mother's silence "You already knew that didn't you?" Melinda just nodded.

"I'll talk to him sweetheart, I'm sure he's fine" Skye knew that was the standard brush off and she so badly wanted to retort that she knew there was a hard line to Fury behind the panel right behind her. She held her tongue and nodded. It wasn't like this wasn't something her mother could handle, she just hated having so many levels of secrets between every member of her family. She slipped out the door before either of them said another word.

* * *

"How was Simmons?" May asked making her presence known as she walked into her husband's office. He tossed the file he was holding on his desk and turned to face her.

"Amazingly resilient, you'd never know she almost died"

"And experience like that, it takes awhile to sink in" They look at each other and May used the file he had been holding to turn the conversation in the direction she wanted it to go. "Is that her medical report?" She asked, linking her fingers together in front of her. Phil just turned to look at it.

"Mine, actually" He turned to face her again. "Blood work finally came back, I'm perfectly normal, little heavy on the iron but don't worry you don't have to start calling me Iron Man" Melinda snorted at her husband.

"I wasn't planning on it" She smirked, she knew he was using humor to deflect so she never let her gaze waver from his and waited for him to continue.

"According to Simmons, I am remarkably fit for _a man of my age"_ His displeasure at the term showed on his face and Melinda chuckled raising one of her perfectly arched eyebrows.

"You didn't need a doctor to tell you that three nights ago" Melinda's eyebrow remained raised in a silent challenge. Phil chuckled before his expression became serious again, both of them holding each others gaze steadily before Phil broke the silence again.

"My doctors never requested any tests, I ordered them for myself but you knew that" May just gave him a small nod, her face twitching into a small frown but Phil could see the concern pouring out of her eyes. "This piece of paper" He continued pointing at the file "Is telling me that everything's fine but I don't feel fine, I feel different" At his last words he brought his gaze back up to meet his wife's. The emotion that was so clearly laid out on her face was so open that Phil had to rein in his shock. He hadn't seen his wife like this in years. Her love for him overcame all her features, her need to help him was displayed so clearly.

"Take off your shirt" Her voice was so soft Phil almost thought he was hearing things, the soft undertones ones he hadn't heard for years, not even with Skye. Regardless his eyebrows twitched up as he glanced at the open door behind her.

"Excuse me?" Melinda had closed the door quicker than he was used to and she made her way back towards him.

"Your shirt, unbutton it" she commanded as she came to stand a foot in front of him. He did so silently, opening his jacket before then undoing the few buttons of his shirt that covered his scar. This was definitely not the first time Melinda had seen it, or touched it for that matter. Come to think of it she's kissed it multiple times too. As he undid the last button Melinda slid herself right into his personal space, using both hands to spread his shirt, revealing his scar to the both of them. She sighed as she looked at it before she looked back up at her husband. "Whether it was eight seconds or forty you died" She had to pause as she forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat as she repeated a lie. "There's no way you can go through a trauma like that and not come out of it changed" As she stared at him Phil's face remained blank, showing no feeling what so ever. "You know how long its taken me?"

"I know" He cut her off, his face never wavering from its bland expression. Melinda pursed her lips and forced herself to swallow the lump in her throat again.

"The point of these things" She murmured looking at the scar again before looking back at him. "Is to remind us that there is no going back, there's only moving forward" Her eyes flicked down to the scar again as she slipped her hand into his shirt to rest over top of it. "You feel different because you are different" Her lips involuntarily twitched upwards as she felt his right hand finally come up to rest on her hip. She took a final step closer to him and pressed both of their bodies together. She pressed her hand firmly into his chest where it rested on his scar and used the other to reach up and cup his cheek. "But you're still the same man I fell in love with all those years ago, Phil" That finally brought a small smile to his face, his mask dropping as he looked down fondly at his wife. "No matter how different you feel, you'll always be Skye's father, you'll always be my husband, use that to ground yourself" He couldn't find anything to say, and he found himself chuckling at the fact that for once she did all the talking. Melinda seemed to know exactly what he found so amusing because she just shook her head and smiled. "You're still a complete dork too" He let out a laugh before he leaned down to kiss her, he took his time, it felt like it had been weeks since he'd been this close to her when in reality it had only been a few days. When living on a plane with three other people who didn't know you were married it was hard to come up with valid excuses for alone time. Sleeping in the same bed at night was out of the question, though sometimes they did manage to squeeze in an hour or two to lay together while the rest of the team slept. Phil sometimes forgot how reassuring physical contact from Melinda could be. As he pulled away he looked down at his wife, Melinda could see all of his love for her poured out in his eyes and she just smiled up at him.

"I love you, Lin" He murmured while tucked her head under his chin and he pulled her tightly against him. Melinda just swiped her thumb across his scar with the hand that was still tucked between them.

"I know" She murmured into her shirt and she relished in the feeling as he squeezed her tighter.

* * *

 **AN: Pretty sure this scene sailed the Philinda ship for me, it is by far my favorite. Hope you enjoyed the short but sweet spin I put on it!**


	4. Chapter 4

**"Bring Each Other Home"**

 _(Italics are flashbacks/memories)_

Skye hated missions like this, sudden and unplanned. Taking her from one assignment and throwing her right into another. She never liked disorder, she figured that was because of who her parents were, her mother hated mess and her father had a plan for everything. What she hated the most was getting pulled out of an op before it was finished.

* * *

 _She had looked up when the door opened to the small command room she was working in with two other agents. Commander Hill came in briskly, a communications agent right behind her looking clueless. Hill went right up to the supervising officer._

 _"This is Ramirez, bring him up to speed, I need Mayson." Skye would have smiled at her Aunt if she hadn't been pissed, she'd ran this op for just over a month, they were set to finish today. She had wanted the sweet taste of victory but the scowl on Maria's face left no room for argument. Skye simply grabbed her suit jacket and followed her out of the room. When the door was shut behind her Maria left no time for pleasantries._

 _"Suit up, I need you on the flight deck to report to the helicarrier via quinjet in twenty." Skye just nodded and went to turn away before Maria caught her arm and pulled her back for a hug. Skye was flustered, surprised at her Aunt's public display of affection. They were in the middle of the Triskelion, around numerous other people but regardless she hugged her Aunt back, she hadn't seen her godmother in months. "Your father will meet you there too, he's in your mother's office now" She said into her ear. "Make sure you go say bye." She whispered before giving her a squeeze and then turning and leaving her. Skye's stomach instantly filled with unease._

* * *

Skye took the steps up to the sixth floor three at a time as she zipped the sleeves up on her tactical suit. She fastened the buckles over her chest that secured her hood. Every specialist had her own unique suit. Skye's was all one piece, Kevlar reinforced fabric, a zipper going down the back, and one at the end of each limb. She had a vest that wrapped around her torso, that held two flat throwing blades and two different software microchips, not that you could see that by looking at her. She also had a gun holster on her right hip. What made Skye's suit unique to her was the hood, all leather that draped over her shoulders. It wrapped around her and buckled under her arms. Inside her hood her grandmother had sewn a Chinese coin of protection. Her Gram had sewn it right to the top of the hood, so when she wasn't wearing it, it watched her back and when it was on it protected her head. Skye got into Chinese folklore about as much as her mother, but she never went on an op without it, or anywhere really. It was a traditional piece passed from mother to daughter. It was traditionally three coins tied together, but when her Gram had given it to her Skye had taken all three apart, keeping one for herself and giving one to her mother then her gram, each on a necklace, claiming it kept all of them safe. When Skye graduated from Operations and got fitted for her tactical suit her Gram had gifted her with the hood, her coin stitched inside, _"So I can always protect you,_ _Sūnnǚ"_ She had said at the time. As she rounded the last staircase she smiled, thinking of the first time her father had seen her in her tactical uniform.

* * *

 _It was far from her first mission as a specialist but it was the first one she ran with her father. After she had geared up she met him out at their mobile command, a large van with a local bread company on the side, they were the first ones out. Her father looked her up and down then sighed loudly before taking off his suit jacket and putting on his tack vest, walking over to her to have her strap him in._

 _"You know, why do all the women's tact suits have to look like that?" He asked. Skye just laughed as she grabbed the straps of his vest, pulling them tight around his torso._

 _"They're way easier to move in. The whole cargo pants, huge vest thing, doesn't work for us." She said patting him on the shoulder to signal she was done._

 _"You see comfort, all I see is my wife, sister and now daughter running around like Catwoman." Skye laughed harder at the grimace on his face. She just grinned at his obviously discomfort of seeing his daughter in her skin tight Kevlar reinforced suit. She was beautiful, just like her mother, it made his hand twitch for a gun whenever men talked to her. He just tried to remind himself she was lethal like her mother too and could have that gun out of his hands before he could blink._

 _"I guess that makes you batman A.C., though black was never really your color, I could talk to Captain Rodgers, he might have something you could borrow, red, white, and blue is much more your style." Skye quipped, the look her father gave her in return said he wasn't amused but his eyes sparkled._

 _"You're too much like your mother." Skye just let out a bark of laughter as the ops team came out and made their way to the van._

* * *

Skye slowed to a halt before she got to her mother's cubicle, she could see her father bent down placing a soft kiss on her lips. Skye had finally gotten past the whole seeing your parents kiss being gross stage… Well, most of the time, sometimes they were worse than teenagers. She had no doubt that her mother knew she was there. Neither of them could see her but her father's back was to her and he always had a harder time with perception than they did.

"Take care of each other, keep me updated" Her mother said just like she always did when they went on ops together. Skye decided to make herself known, using humor like she always did, this whole operation felt too heavy for her liking.

"Don't worry Mom, I'll keep him from leaving you for Rodgers" Skye said as she moved in to place a kiss on her Mom's cheek.

"How did you?" He began to ask before stopping and looking between his daughter and wife. "Right, all knowing level nine hacker specialist extraordinaire" he grumbled with faux awe, shaking his head at his daughter. Sometimes he found himself getting quite frustrated with everything his daughter was privy to, but most of the time it got stomped out by the swelling pride in his chest. He and Melinda raised an extraordinary woman, but that of course didn't mean he didn't get jealous when his childhood hero was involved.

"Green isn't a good color on you, Phil." Melinda said with a small smile before checking her watch. "You two better get going before Maria has your heads." She said getting up to hug her daughter. "I love you baby girl, be safe" She whispered to her before kissing her forehead and pulling away.

"Love you too, Mom" Skye replied before her father moved in to do the same, his arms wrapping tightly around Melinda, she moved away as she heard them murmur to each other before they pulled away.

"Bring each other home" Melinda said her worry only evident in her eyes. Phil placed a chaste kiss on her lips before turning to walk away with Skye.

"Always" They both said before making their way to the elevator.

* * *

They were in the air before Skye could blink, they set her up right in the command center with Hill and Fury. The table behind her occupied Romanoff, Rodgers, and Dr Banner. She had gotten to speak with Natasha in the quinjet, her pseudo Aunt asking her to co-pilot for her as soon as she stepped on board. Her father had went to retrieve Stark, who just walked through the door, talking about keeping romance alive. _'Typical'_ Skye thought. _'Always talking about their women'_ She glanced at both of them and they both winked at her making her roll her eyes. They acted like they were her age when they were together.

Romanoff had went on to see Loki when she saw it, the bug trying to hack their system. She sighed, she should have known, her hands moving swiftly before she grumbled and got out of her chair.

"Dammit Tony!" She said as her eyes swept over the computers in the command center.

"What's going on?" Hill asked, eyes showing her confusion.

"Bingo!" Skye said before she found the little disk stuck to the side of the computer screen, she shook her head. It was so typical. Maria just nodded to her before Skye exited the deck and made her way to the science lab seeing Tony and Banner around Loki's scepter. Rodgers was on the other side of the room saying something about trusting the system. Skye almost laughed as Tony explained that he had a bug that was about to tell them everything they needed. Skye smiled as she stood in the doorway then sucked air in between her teeth making a tsk noise as all three men turned to her. She held up the tiny disk, tilting her head to the side shaking it.

"No bueno" She said with a laugh. "Your signature gives you away every time, I told you that." She smiled as Tony huffed and made his way towards her, she kissed him on the cheek, and held the disk away from him. "Fifty bucks says I can make this way better" she said extending her hand, he shook it.

"Game on" He smiled at her. Banner and Rodgers just watched in utter fascination. "Honestly I thought you would have been quicker"He said, trying to play off his disappointment at being caught. Skye just smiled.

"Uh huh" She said, making her way over to a computer, placing the tiny disk on it as she started typing.

"How's the lovely Pepper? You still haven't scared her off, I see?" She asked.

"She puts up with me" He answered watching her fondly as she worked.

"She deserves a humanitarian award for that" Skye sassed. That made even Rodgers laugh.

"How's everyone?" He asked ignoring her previous statement. "Staying out of trouble?"

"If you asked Fury he'd say no but I'm just trying to spice up the job" She said her fingers still moving swiftly. "When you get to level nine, it's not like a video game it just becomes a huge snooze fest" She said offhandedly. Banner and Rodgers looked stunned, Skye knew the Avengers were only level five. Tony just chuckled and nodded.

"You're up to level nine now? You couldn't even tell Uncle Tony the good news? After all the work we've done together?" Skye barked out another laugh.

"Sorry _Uncle_ Tony" she snarked with heavy emphasis on uncle before she stopped typing and picked up the disk again. She walked over to him and placed it in his hand, kissing his cheek again. "Try not to insult me next time, I enjoy a challenge" She smirked. He just chuckled and watched her make her way to the door.

"After all this, we'll have dinner, Pep misses you and your mother, apparently your father and I are sub par company" Skye just chuckled before she rounded the corner to go back to the command center.

"That's because you are!" She yelled over her shoulder.

* * *

Everything escalated so quickly from there. She remembered her father kissing her head before he ran out, grabbing Maria's hand so quickly before he made his way out the door she almost felt like it didn't happen. As soon as Fury's voice came over the coms she was out of her chair before anyone could stop her. She could hear Maria yelling for a repeat though her com but everything was starting to get fuzzy. She made it to where the container should have been and Fury was there, still on the ground by her father as the med team moved back. He was dead.

"DAD!" Skye screamed, and Fury turned to look at her just as she fell beside him. Her arms grabbing her father's shoulders and pulling them towards her. "No, no, no, Dad! Daddy! Please! Daddy! Please! No, no, no!" She screamed. His eyes were closed, he was almost smiling. He looked like he was sleeping, but the blood that was still gushing out of the wound in his chest, right through his heart told her otherwise. His heart that was probably ripped to shreds.

"Mae" She heard the soft voice behind her before she felt a soft hand land on her shoulder. She knew it was her Aunt but she couldn't let go. She couldn't let him go.

"Dad, please" Her voice a broken whisper, her head going to his shoulder. Her suit was starting to soak with his blood. "Please Daddy, please, you can't leave us. We need you." That's when the sobs took over and she felt her Aunt pull her to her, wrapping her tightly as the med team came and lifted him, putting him in the standard issue body bag. She calmed enough that she and Maria separated and she watched as they lifted him on the med board. "I have to bring him home" Skye said, looking at Fury asking permission to leave. He nodded at her, then to Maria. Skye glanced up at her Aunt, her face and eyes red, tears flowing down her cheeks. She had smudges of blood all over her, Skye knew if was from when her Aunt had grabbed her. Skye could feel his blood all over her skin, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She took her Aunts hand then followed the med team out to a quinjet. It was loaded and they set him on the floor. A few more injured people piled on and Skye strapped herself in, right by her father's head. To her surprise Maria sat down next to her doing the same Skye looked up at her, puzzled.

"I'm not leaving him" Her Aunt said quietly. "Or you" She grabbed Skye's hand tightly, laying it in her lap. Skye knew her Aunt didn't want to her to have to tell her mother alone.

When they touched down everyone piled out before they did, the last few men reaching down to lift the body board, following Skye and Maria down the ramp. Her mother was a few feet back. She just stared, she took in her daughter and sister-in-law, shock registering on her face. Skye's uniform was glistening with blood, it had soaked in from her shins and forearms as if she had kneeled in it. Her hands completely covered and smudges of blood all over her face, and in her hair. Her eyes were red, cheeks puffy and tears were flowing freely down her face. Melinda just knew, she knew that body in the bag behind them was her husband, and that he wasn't coming home. His murmured 'I love you so much, Lin' from just this morning running through her head on a loop as her daughter flew down the end of the ramp and into her arms.

"Momma!" Skye's body forcibly slammed into hers. The sobs took over again as she cried into her mother's neck. If Skye hadn't been standing Melinda was sure she would be on the ground. She felt Maria come up, placing a hand on either woman's back. As Melinda felt the tears start to flow. Her steal facade be damned because the love of her life, her husband, her partner, and her best friend just got carried past her in a black body bag. This couldn't be happening, she needed him, she couldn't be _her_ , not without him.

* * *

Maria got them to her office, where later Skye would hack the feeds to Stark tower and the carrier, patching them into the com system. Just to know what's going on, so they weren't just sitting there in silence. Maria had been flown back to the carrier, mostly for need of something to do, realizing that that's where Phil would want her to be, commanding her ship. Both women understood, knowing she would come back to them later. Skye and Melinda were both too shocked to do much else than sit there. Skye's entire body shook as her mother held her, she couldn't make it stop, her entire body quaking on its own accord. They both just sat in silence listening and watching, not comprehending everyone else's world ending because theirs already had.

* * *

 **AN: Thought I'd give ya'll two new chapters since it took me so long to update... I could come up with a bunch of great excuses but I won't lie, it was sheer laziness. My apologies. I hope you enjoyed them, and I'll try to update more chapters quicker, I have quite a bit written they just need finessing. Thank you so SO much for all the kind reviews, follows, and favorites! Oh, and if you were curious Sūnnǚ is granddaughter in Mandarin... at least google translate says it is!**

 **p.s. Quaking... You see what I did there? (Excuse me, I think I'm clever!)**


	5. Chapter 5

**The Calvary**

 **** _(Episode tag to Repairs 1x09)_

"No wonder she keeps screaming, if you keep sending in the Calvary you're bound to get a reaction" Skye bit out the words harshly. Her frustration with her mother evident in her tone.

"Skylar Mae"

"I know, don't call her that" Skye let out a short huff and turned to look at her father, giving up on her attempts with the transceiver. "You know when I went back to the academy so many cadets were still talking about it, they still do, and every time, every time I imagine just how many different ways I could cut out their tongue" Skye just stared at her father after the confession. The truth behind the half joke barely startling him. All she saw on his face was mutual understanding. "You should have heard the story Fitz-Simmons tried to feed me earlier, something about over a hundred men, with two pistols on horseback. Ward's correction wasn't any better" The huff Skye let out this time seemed slightly more amused but Phil knew it was a deflection, one that she picked up from him. He just looked at his daughter, the hurt evident in her eyes. What happened to Melinda hurt more than just Melinda, it hurt their entire family.

"That woman" Skye gestured vaguely to the door of Phil's office. "I don't even know who she is, she's not... I don't know who she is but that hollow look in her eyes... The same eyes that used to soothe away my nightmares, she never had to ask, she just knew, she'd take one look and she just knew, and now you can barely make out who she was before! The look in her eyes now... it makes my skin crawl" It had been a long time since Phil looked in his wife's eyes and saw the woman she used to be. She had rare moments, where the old Melinda would shine through, but they were far and few in between. Phil loved the woman she was then, and he loves the woman she is now, but sometimes he found himself wishing for a time machine. Phil watched his daughter's eyes water, he'd always been hyper aware of the effect Melinda's trauma had had on their daughter. Skye hid it well, accepting anything Melinda would offer, but he knew those days right after Bahrain haunted Skye almost as much as they did Melinda.

"You're mother used to be different, she was always quiet, but she was just" Phil paused trying to find the words. "She was warm, fearless in a different way, getting in trouble, pulling pranks, thought rules were meant to be broken" He smirked then. "Sound familiar?" He watched a small smile appear on Skye's lips as she remembered too. "When you came along you took all the reserves she had away, when it came to you, every guard she had went down, there was a whole other side of her that I'd never seen before, she's an amazing woman" Skye almost felt like she as intruding on something as she watched a far away look begin to cover her father's face. She could still so clearly remember what her mother used to be. "But when she came out of that building" Phil shook his head, finally looking back at his daughter. "It was like that part of her was gone, I tried to comfort her, but she wouldn't tell me what went down in there, I thought as soon as she saw you..." Her father trailed of, both of them recalling Melinda's screams when Skye had got to the hospital to see her.

"You never told me what you said to her" Skye said softly

"I said the words I thought she needed to hear" Phil paused again, looking at his daughter. "When I look back on it now, I think she really just needed you, that's why she pushed you so far away" Skye just sat there and held her father's gaze, remembering how long it took her mother to finally be in the same room with her, then how long it took her to actually look at her. She could still feel the same ache in her chest that she felt back then now, it still hurt just as much. Skye read between all of her father's lines.

"That's why you wanted her on the plane, to see if she's still in there" Before Phil could make any kind of response a loud bang resounded through his office as the door slammed shut.

* * *

"What did you say to him?" Phil asked quietly as Melinda made her way towards him. He was watching her like a hawk, measuring every ounce of movement in her facial expression as she came to a stop in front of him. When his wife finally brought her gaze up to his her expression was soft, her eyes showing all the residual pain she still felt. The pain he knew she kept locked down. He almost wanted to be mad at her, for being so open when he wasn't in a position to comfort her, but he knew that was why she did it in the first place.

"The same words you said to me in Bahrain" Her voice was soft and cracked as she spoke. As she moved around him to make her way back to the bus Phil wanted so badly to go after her, to just hold her. He glanced quickly at his daughter, and they shared a look, both agreeing it would be Skye going into the cockpit tonight.

* * *

Skye knocked before she entered the cockpit, closing the door behind herself. She didn't say a word and neither did Melinda as Skye came to stand beside her mother. Skye loomed over her and waited, Melinda unable to take off with Skye being so close to her. Melinda let out a short huff, removing her headpiece and handing it to Skye, before plopping herself down in the co-pilot seat in a very un-Melinda like manner. Skye was pretty sure she caught an eye roll as she as she sat down, putting the head piece on, picking up right where Melinda felt off, flipping switches and pulling levers before the planes surged upwards into the night. Skye reset the course to the sandbox before switching on the auto pilot. Melinda still hadn't said a word kept her gaze out the window. Skye let out a sigh of her own before she reached over to her mother, before Melinda could protest skye had grabbed her mother's left foot, pulling her leg over the center control console to rest it in her lap.

"I noticed you limping" She carefully pulled off her mother's boot, casting it aside before moving to peel back her sock, revealing a large bruise over the top of her foot. Melinda let out a low hiss. Skye touched her ankle, gently moving her foot in different angles before slowly kneading the wound. "It's not broken" Skye murmured before she began lightly massaging her mother's foot. Minutes passed as both women sat in a comfortable silence.

"You did good today" Melinda's tone was soft, and Skye couldn't help but smile at her mother. "Sometimes I forget how good you are" Both women just continued to watch each other, Skye still rubbing her mother's foot to keep it from swelling after the compression of her boot wore off.

"Mom, about what I said today" Melinda cut her off before she could continue.

"I know" Melinda averted her eyes again, looking out the window. "I know it's just as hard for you and your father too" Skye suddenly felt like she didn't know what to do, or really say so she just swallowed thickly. She knew after all these years her mother just wasn't going to magically open up, it had been awhile since Skye had seen that look in her mother's eyes. She suddenly wondered why it was her that was in here instead of her father. He seemed to be a magnet to the woman she used to be, pulling her out against Melinda's will. Skye had been honest earlier when she had said he knows just what makes her tick. But as she looked at her mother's face now she realized that wasn't what she needed tonight. She just needed Skye,to sit with her and do exactly what she was doing, to be her daughter.

"You should get some rest, I can handle this" Skye whispered softly and Melinda turned back to look at her.

"You really shouldn't even be in here, if the team" Skye just cut her off.

"Dad's keeping watch" She answered. Melinda wanted to protest but at the word rest her entire body had seemed to sag, the day finally catching up to her. As she started to drift off she could hear Skye opening the cabinet underneath the center console, she heard a little pop than her sock be slipped back on and suddenly something cold was put in her sock. Skye must have grabbed an instant ice pack. She wanted to open her eyes but they felt like led so she just resigned herself to sleep as she felt a blanket fall over her legs. "I love you momma" It was a quiet whisper before Skye squeezed her calf and let go of her. Melinda could feel the plane shift off of autopilot.

"Sandbox this is SHIELD six-one-six requesting permission to enter SHIELD airspace, over" Melinda didn't even have time to ponder just how Skye had learned to imitate her so well before she drifted off completely.


	6. Chapter 6

**Blood Doesn't Make a Family**

 _(Episode tags for the season 2 finale, episodes 2x19-22)_

"It's hard to argue with the man who prevented Ultron from killing thousands of people, but there are plenty more battles to be won and one a little closer to home that I fear the helicarrier won't solve... We need to discuss Agent Mayson" Gonzalez walked closer to him. Phil caught Melinda's eye from where she was standing near the door.

"And we'll do that, as soon as she reports back from the Avengers facility" Phil said dropping that information on them like a bomb. Gonzalez had the decency to look surprised. "She was needed on orders from Commander Hill and Fury to report for Theta protocol, that should give you enough to know where her loyalties lie" Phil continued and left no room for argument as he made his way to the door. "I spoke to her briefly after the carrier touched down, she'll be back at H.Q. this afternoon" He said stretching the true on who delivered that news before completely leaving the conference room.

* * *

"I have no idea, seriously I haven't heard of anything like that before, neither has Lincoln" Skye supplied later that afternoon.

"And you believe him?" Phil questioned.

Skye looked at him with reproach. "Why wouldn't I?"

"You barely know him" Her father returned with a shrug.

"I know enough" Skye huffed. "He and Jiaying helped me, they never tried to hurt me, they taught me to channel my powers so I wasn't hurting myself" She rubbed her arms as if to show how healed they were. "These are good people Dad"

"Are they? People I mean... Look I know you feel connected to this group but you won't tell us much about them. You're keeping to yourself, you didn't even tell us you reported back from the carrier" Phil tried to continue but Skye cut him off.

"I've been taking care of Lincoln" Skye was clearly starting to get agitated with them, they didn't understand, they couldn't.

"Okay, but from our perspective we don't even know what to call them" He said.

"Inhumans" She answered. Phil rocked back a little, trying to take it in... Is that what his daughter was now? An Inhuman? Melinda just stared. "Our ancient ancestors called themselves inhuman's and we just want to be left alone"

"We?" It felt like a punch right to his gut. His daughter was standing before him as if he was just any other man, as if he and the woman standing beside him hadn't raised her, as if they weren't her family.

Melinda recovered quicker. "If they want to be left alone then why infiltrate a military vessel?" She questioned, glancing at her husband and taking a step towards their daughter. She had tried but failed to keep the frustration out of her tone. Skye immediately bit back.

"You're assuming that this thing is a weapon, well its in SHIELD's possession, maybe they're just afraid of it" She said her arms flailing as she tried to keep her temper but her tone raised as if on its own accord. "Afraid of what Gonzalez might do with it"

"We're not the enemy here" Phil replied, rising from the edge of his desk. He could feel both women losing their tempers.

"The man teleported on board Skye he's clearly very dangerous" She said, her tone left no room for argument, but Phil knew that never stopped their daughter. At the use of her nickname falling from her mother's lips something in Skye's brain just snapped.

"The same thing could be said about you May!" She said heatedly, she knew she needed to stop talking, that she would regret every word that was about to come out of her mouth. Melinda had physically recoiled as if she had been slapped by the use of her surname. Skye could see the pain etched so clearly over her mother's face but she couldn't stop the words that spilled from her mouth out of anger. "I heard about what happened to that little girl in Bahrain" Melinda's whole spine straightened. She had never told a soul what happened in that room. "Jiaying told me the whole story" Phil forced his mouth closed as it had fallen open in shock and just kept looking between the two of them.

"Did you know that she was inhuman?They both were. So you of all people should know why they want to keep their location a secret, what they're so afraid of!" Skye watched her mother gasp in a breath of air, her face still one of shock but her eyes were filled with so much pain. Pain that she caused, a moment or two passed where all three of them stood in silence before Melinda turned and walked out of the office silently, the door closing with a light click behind her. Skye couldn't believe what she had just done. Her entire body was shaking, and she started gasping for air. "Oh my god" She gasped out. "Oh my god" Phil just looked at her and had no idea what to do, he so badly wanted to go after his wife but the pain radiating from his daughter kept him motionless. Suddenly Bobbi's voice filled his office.

"Director, were on our way to H.Q. we have knews, Gonzalez is requesting a meeting, we found them" Phil just nodded before remembering she couldn't see him

"Report to my office after you touch down, I'll find Agent May"He replied. He turned around to find his office empty, Skye having fled while he was listening to Bobbi, he silently cursed the stealthlyness she had gotten from her mother and went to find Melinda. Family matters were going to have to wait.

* * *

Phil tried not to think about the look that had rested on his wife's face as she spoke of seeing what side Skye is really on. None of his council knew that Skye was their daughter, or that they were married. Besides Bobbi of course, but Phil knew that no matter the side Bobbi took, revealing that piece of information put Skye in danger, and Bobbi would never do that. The council agreed before they all left his office. As Phil walked out he saw Skye a little ways down the hall waiting for him.

"No, you cannot go there! Listen secrecy is what they value most!" She said quickly trying to keep up with his fast pace.

"We can't ignore their existence. They're not ignoring ours" He tried to reason with her, she just quickened her step and used it to stop in front of him, coming face to face with him.

"Please" she said, she wanted so badly to be able to explain everything, she just didn't know how, she didn't even know what _she_ was feeling.

"Look at the very least we need to figure out how many people we're dealing with, assess their powers and place them on the index. You know how this works, you're a SHIELD agent" He said knowing that he chose his words just to see the response that was given. Skye looked at the ground, her expression remorseful when she looked back up at him, that was all the answer Phil needed, but he listened as she spoke regardless.

"I don't know what I am anymore" She said with a sigh, her confusion evident in the brown orbs that gazed up at him. Phil just looked at her resigned, he had no idea how to help her. "Okay just let Lincoln and I go first, they're probably worried about us. I'll talk to Jiaying explain that you're coming and that you just wanna help. She'll listen" She tried to reason. Phil didn't like the idea, but he knew that reason alone would never stop her.

"How can you be sure?" He asked and suddenly he knew the answer before she said it. It felt like Loki's scepter had been pushed right back through his chest.

"Because she's my mother "

* * *

Phil finally found his wife in the plane hanger, staring out at the spot where her bus used to be parked. He walked up beside her and waited, following her gaze to the empty parking space.

"I miss my plane" she said flatly. Phil took in her cold expression, and her crossed arms, he just sighed and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Me too" he agreed. "Though, if you think about it, mostly terrible stuff happened on that thing" He said lightly, he was trying to be funny, which never really worked when Melinda was like this so he just got right to the point. "I spoke to Skylar, this woman she keeps talking about, Jiaying, its her birth mother" He watched as Melinda closed her eyes and took a breath before looking at him coldly. "I was expecting at least a raised eyebrow but okay" Phil shrugged. Honestly he was expecting way more than that, he definitely wasn't expecting nothing. Calling another woman Skye's mother left his tongue burning, and his heart aching. If that was how he felt he could only imagine what Melinda was feeling, he imagined it was very much how he felt when he sat at that table with Raina across from him, he just wished she'd actually tell him.

"I'll tell the counsel" She replied evenly, causing Phil's eyebrows to knit together before she turned to leave. He suddenly knew this conversation was going to go nowhere. This was how Melinda has always been post Bahrain. She had always been quite and more than a bit emotionally reserved but somehow Phil had cracked that, hell their daughter had burst that crack wide open. After Bahrain Melinda glued those cracks shut and Phil learned to completely rely on her facial expressions and body language to tell him how she felt. He could read the look in her eyes like an open book, but that never stopped him from trying to get her to actually verbalize her emotions.

"Lin" Phil called pausing for a second as she stopped and waited for him to continue. He chose his words wisely, if he started too deep she would just continue to walk away. She had plenty of things to be upset with him about so he just decided to start at the beginning. "I thought now would be a good to time apologize to you" he said moving in front of her. "at length, as promised"

"There's no need" She cut him off shaking her head.

"Fury and I felt" She cut him off again.

"We don't owe each other anything" She said trying to move past him again, that statement hurt but he knew it was meant to. It was part of her strategy to get him to let her be, but Phil wasn't having it.

"Hey" he said coming in front of her again. "That's not true" Melinda wouldn't even look at him. "Look if this is about what Skylar said" He started.

"It's not "

"It doesn't matter" Phil just ignored her and continued. "I don't care what happened in Bahrain"

"Yes, you do" She said shaking her head. "Or you wouldn't bring it up" Her arms flapped awkwardly at her sides. Phil just looked confused. "That girl wasn't killed in the crossfire, Phil" She said, Phil watched the emotion slowly start to seep back into her face.

"Okay" He nodded, urging her to continue

"It was her or everyone around us, and I made the call" Phil just looked at her. "I never told anyone, back then our boundaries were clear"

"Melinda, I..." All he could hear for a moment were her awful screams, the pain that was clearly so evident on her face when Skye had walked into her hospital room. Everything seemed so crystal clear now. He almost hadn't noticed Melinda kept talking.

"When you started carving into that wall, you asked me to watch you and put you down if you got out of control, I never would have shot you but I should have stopped you" She said harshly.

" I never lost control" He argued. Melinda's sharp gaze just leveled with his.

"Our daughter is living proof that you did" She said seethingly. "That we both did" she said before moving past him to leave. Phil wanted to stop her, pull her close and tell her that their Skylar Mae as not that little girl, that she was still their daughter, and that she would come right back to them after she figured everything out for herself. But Phil knew those were empty words, he had no idea what his daughter was feeling, or if she even considered them to be her parents anymore. All he could do was hope that she would come back and that no one would be put in danger in the process.

* * *

As Skye stood in the dark and watched Jiaying with Raina she bitterly thought of how she could ever think of this woman as her mother. She pushed away the images of Melinda's aching expression ' _I hope your mother is everything you wanted her to be'_ She blocked out the momentary anger she felt as she sent her Mom flying through the air and all she felt now was complete and utter shame. She had never felt so hurt by her own actions, by what she had done to her own mother. Everyone was in danger and it was her fault. She trusted someone just because they shared her DNA and told her when her birthday was, and Skye was so caught up in finding a part of herself that she let it cloud her judgment. That she turned her back on the only two people that have loved her regardless of whatever she had done. She felt so unbelievably angry with herself. Skye had an undeniable feeling of being played, and everything just seemed to be fitting the bill now. She was trained in deception and espionage she should have known, she had been so careless and hurt the only people that have ever meant anything to her. All her thoughts were cleared as quickly as they came as she watched Jiaying stab Raina in the throat. Skye moved forward quickly to let her presence be known as she walked into the light that was cast over the bridge. As Jiaying turned to look at her the Chinese coins she had given her, that were so much like the ones her Gram had blessed her with, fell from her hands.

"What did you do? How could you?" Sky asked looking at Raina's fallen body on the ground.

"She threatened me, you tried to warn me but I didn't listen until it was almost to late" Jiaying rushed to explain. Skye felt unbelievably overwhelmed. Everything they had done, everything _she_ had done was based on a lie. All Skye could see was the look on Melinda's face _'I hope your mother is everything you wanted her to be'_. Skye pushed everything down, compartmentalized it for later but let her anger take hold.

"She knew I would see this, she said as much! She saw who you really are so you killed her!" Skye explained taking a step onto the bridge but going no further.

"Everything I've done, everything I will do is for the protection of our people!" Jiaying said still trying to explain.

"You killed Gonzales" Skye says lowly, almost to herself looking at the ground trying to piece everything together."You... You could have killed Coulson" She murmured to herself. "You want a war!" She exclaimed looking back up at the other woman.

"War was inevitable!" Jiaying replied. "I struck first so we would have the advantage!" She said as if that explained everything.

"He came to make peace!" Skye said hotly.

"Peace? I built this community in the middle of _nowhere_ so we would be left in peace! Yet SHIELD found us! No matter where we go or what we do they will hunt us down! If we are to survive SHIELD must be destroyed!" The older woman yelled, not tolerating anything but her own truth. Skye just stared at her disbeleveingly though her whole tirade.

"What are you planning?" Skye managed to hiss out, taking a step closer to the older woman.

"I am planning for our future! Your future!" The proclamation made bile rise in the back of Skye's throat. This speech sounded so much like one she'd heard before, from Grant Ward. "Daisy, I won't live forever and when I'm gone you must lead these people. Protect them as I have done" The use of that name made Skye swallow her disgust and her anger seeped out.

"Protect them? You killed Raina! You're leading them into war! If they need protection it is from you!" Skye yelled. "I don't need you to plan my future! Or our future! We don't have a future! I am not your Daisy! My name is Skylar Mae Qiaolian Coulson! My friends call me Skye! My parents are Phillip and Melinda Coulson! My future is with them! And with SHIELD! They are my family! You are a monster!" Skye was seething, she breathes coming out in short huffs. Jiaying just looked at her, there was no hurt or remorse, it was as if she didn't even care.

"I'm sorry you feel that way" She said. Before Skye could even investigate the sound coming from behind her, everything went black.

* * *

Melinda had to resist the urge to twitch as she was awoken by a hand playing with her hair. She knew that meant her Skylar Mae was awake. It was something she'd done since she was a toddler. When she was upset or anxious Melinda would hold her and as soon as little Mae's arms were around her, her hands would immediately find Melinda's hair, running her fingers through it meticulously until her breaths evened and Melinda had placated all of her worries.

"I know you're awake" The hand stopped, Melinda still didn't move. She must have fallen asleep in her chair that she had dragged between Skye and Phil's beds in recovery. She hadn't moved since. She vaguely remembers laying her head down by her daughters side. She could hear the steady beeps coming from both sets of monitors so she knew Phil must still be sleeping. "Seriously, I saw you stiffen, you might have thought it wasn't noticeable, but I was taught by the best" The timidness in her daughter's voice had Melinda sitting up and looking at her. Before Melinda could stop herself her hand reached up to hold her daughters cheek. Skye's eyes began to water and Melinda watched her lower lip tremble before Skye bit it to prevent it from happening again. As Melinda looked at her she suddenly felt like she was looking at her two year old little Skylar Mae again.

"Momma, I'm so sorry" Skye's voice was quite and the words barely made it out of her mouth before she was choking on a sob. Melinda moved to sit next to Skye, silently but swiftly moving the blanket and cords attached to her daughter as she maneuvered Skye into her lap as if she were a doll, wrapping her arms around her daughter tightly. Skye's arms worked themselves around Melina's neck as her daughter sobbed into her chest. Melinda just held her tightly, occasionally bringing a hand up to stroke her back as she rocked them back and forth. She absently heard Simmons come into the room, moving to Skye's monitors and turning the volume down so the beats that were loudly relaying Skye's rapid heart beat wouldn't wake Phil. She moved around to check Phil's stats before nodding at Melinda and squeezing her leg before making a hasty exit. Melinda couldn't tell how long she sat there holding her full grown child as if she were a toddler. Melinda knew Skye's hands had made their way back to her hair,as she ran her fingers through it her sobs started to resign to tears as Skye struggled to catch her breath. Melinda started to do the breathing exercises from their Tai Chi and waited for her daughter to follow suit. When Skye finally let out a shuttered breath and hiccuped Melinda looked down at her, bringing a hand up to wipe her cheeks. "I'm so stupid" Skye whispered looking anywhere but at her mother.

"Hush" Melinda's tone was soft but left no room for defiance. She placed her hand under her daughters chin and lifted it up until she held Skye's gaze. "No daughter of mine is stupid. Naive maybe, but certainly not stupid" Skye looked away again before burying her head back in her mother's chest, Melinda could feel her fingers continuing to move through her hair.

"She played me like a fiddle Momma, it was all a game for her and I was just a pawn. I should have seen it, I should have known, I've been _trained_ " Skye spoke into her chest. Melinda just continued to stroke her back as she let her daughter go own. "If Gonzales hadn't taken Dad's place she would have killed him too, it wouldn't have even mattered that he was my father, it was her plan all along. I put everyone in danger, I _hurt_ you" Skye choked out the last bit but Melinda interrupted her before it could turn back to tears.

"Skylar Mae Qiaolian, what happened was not your fault, _Jiaying_ put every ones lives at risk, _Jiaying_ mislead her people, _Jiaying_ started that battle, not you. I know you didn't mean to hurt me baby girl, but I'm tough and I can take it. You are my child and I will do whatever is necessary to protect you. It doesn't matter if you're mad at me, or if I don't agree with you, you are my child and nothing you ever do could make me love you any less, no matter how old you grow and how much you insist you don't need it, I will always do everything in my power to protect you" Melinda told her, Skye just nodded into her chest. Melinda knew this would take a while for her daughter to recover from, but Melinda couldn't stop herself from reassuring her anyway.

"It was a hard choice to make baby, and if I was a lesser person I would be upset with you for making it" That got Skye's attention and she looked up to face her mother. "You made that choice because you are human, Skylar Mae Qiaolian, you are a human that still has faith in the genuine goodness of humanity. Sometimes that faith gets you burned but that doesn't make me any less proud of the woman your father and I raised you to be"Melinda said softly as she watched her daughters eyes become glossy again."No more of that" Melinda wiped a tear off Skye's cheek when it spilled over.

"You're so much like your father baby girl, I know that faith and trust comes from him, but I know you are enough like me to know you'll try to beat yourself up about this, but Skylar baby, you need to forgive yourself. It happened but now it's over, you're safe and your family is safe, and we'll get through the rest, together. Your father and I, Bobbi and Fitz-Simmons. We all love you Skylar and we're all here to help you forgive yourself. At one time I foolishly believed if I just kept it all inside it would go away, I thought no one would ever look at me the same if I told them what really happened to Katya. I convinced myself to do it alone, and that's the worst possible way you could punish yourself. Just know you're not alone baby, and as long as your father and I have a say in the matter you never will be" More tears fell from Skye's eyes but she buried her head back in her mother's chest before Melinda could wipe them away. Melinda felt her nod before her daughter's arms tightened around her and Melinda returned the gesture by pulling Skye tighter to her chest. Eventually Melinda felt her daughters hands in her hair start to slow and her breathing even out. She let her arms slack a little and looked down at her daughter, brushing some of her hair out of her face. Melinda looked over at her husband who was still sleeping soundly. The next few weeks were going to be tough, but she had no doubt they would make it through all of it together. They always did.


	7. Chapter 7

**Clearance**

 _(Episode tag for The Hub 1x07)_

It all went to hell when Simmons decided it was a good idea to shoot Agent Sitwell. Skye never liked the guy but still. All of the fun she had, had foreigning cluelessness has long sense left as Simmons all but scurries back to her.

"Was that alright?"

Skye held in the laughter that was bubbling, this was the absolute worst time to laugh. "That was terrible! You were terrible! That was a total meltdown!" Skye could clearly see now why Fitz-Simmons weren't cleared for the field, which assured her that shooting Sitwell or not she had made the right call. Technically, Skye knew she would take responsibility for the whole thing later, and she out ranked Sitwell, that didn't necessarily give her the right to shoot him, but she'd still say it was her who did.

"The night-night gun was right there and!" Simmons stopped to take a deep breath.

"We need help, you need to go get May" Skye knew going to her father was out of the question. He was too much of a company man to hear Skye just let Simmons shoot Agent Sitwell.

"May? No!" The fear was etched so clearly over Simmons face.

"Listen! That flash drive will only give me a few minutes to access the Hubs mainframe to find out what happened to our boys so just go get May, tell her it was an accident!" Skye urged her as she started to sift through the tablet.

"I'm gonna be court marshaled" Skye heard Simmons mumble as she walked away. Skye started tapping furiously on her tablet.

"I hope this works" She muttered walking to the nearest empty room she could find. She quickly logged into the hub. She had lied to Simmons, the flash drive was making her unnoticed but not because of her bracelet. There were only so many level nine Agents out there and markers always pinged when they logged on, especially somewhere they weren't supposed to be at the given time. Given that Skye was undercover, she should only be using her log in codes at her given check in times from a server on the bus. The flash drive was plugged in to simply show she wasn't there, just like the bracelet she wore hid her identity as an Agent at the hub.

"Oh my god" Skye stared at the screen but it didn't change the data that was given to her. "No extraction" She murmured, she was so shocked that she didn't react to the footsteps approaching her until her screen was forced shut.

"What did I tell you?" Her father demanded. He never did like it much when she broke the rules, though it always seemed to make him even angrier when she would tell him that technically she had access to all the files. She knew that wasn't how it worked, even as she had argued with Fitz-Simmons and Ward on the bus earlier this morning she knew that wasn't how it worked. Yes, Skye is level nine, she has more access to SHIELD data than ninety percent of all SHIELD agents, but that didn't mean she was privy to it. Every agent couldn't know everything, so while she could access the information easily that didn't mean she should, that was a trust that had to be embedded on a level nine agent from the Director himself. Come to think of it, Skye broke so many rules she wasn't quite sure why the Director did trust her.

"You told me to trust the system, and the system sent Ward and Fitz in there to die" Skye's anger was leaking out. Her father just grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the room. Skye knew he was leading her back to the bus, she had been on the receiving end of his disapproving looks long enough to know he was pissed, but she didn't care. If they didn't help, a third of their team would be dead.

"I told you I'd get answers about the redacted files" He bit out as he let go of her arm.

"That's not what I was looking for!" She seethed, she could care less about the two people on the other end of those redacted files at the moment. "I was trying to find out what was happening with Ward and Fitz"

"That's a classified operation" He snipped, Skye bit back the comment that it wasn't classified to her.

"It's a suicide mission! I saw it all! The troop placements, the aerial assault, once Fitz disables that device there's going to be a huge attack on that compound with no extraction plan and you hid that from us!" Sye exclaimed. She could see her father's expression getting stonier, she was pushing too many of his buttons. He gripped her arm tightly again and directed her down a deserted corridor, moved her in front of him and came to a stop.

"I didn't hide anything from you, you don't have the clearance to know that" He told her forcefully. Skye just scoffed at him.

"I do have the clearance! But apparently you don't!" She snapped. "Is that really what SHIELD is all about? Level fives are more expendable than level eight? Is that all they are just a number to you?" She had, had just about enough of her Dads good soldier routine today. Sometimes it was hard to tell if he was the new Agent Coulson or the old one, apparently today it was the old one, and she didn't like it.

"Are you done?" Phil's anger at his own lack of knowledge was burning through. This was what he hated about the level system, mostly what he hated about each member of his family being on a different level of it.

"I don't know am I?" Skye challenged, so much like Melinda that in only angered him further.

"If SHIELD keeps a secret from us it's for a good reason"

Skye immediately interrupted him "What? So they can hold all the secrets?" Phil had enough.

"You know better than to interrupt!" He said sternly, his dad voice coming out clear, Skye's mouth shut. "You just hacked a level eight secure server! Don't give me the technically you have the clearance! You have no context for that mission! If details get out the whole operation could be compromised, lives could be lost, Ward and Fitz among them!" Both of them were losing their tempers trying desperately to get the other to see their point.

"Don't you think know that? I'm a SHIELD agent too! Those are members of our team! Two people we care about! You and Mom have always told me to think outside the box and that's what I did! I went off book because I was trying to watch their backs!" Skye knew she shouldn't raise her voice with her father but she most certainly wasn't backing down from something she believed in, he should know that, after all he taught her both.

"The reason we can go off the book is because there is a book, a hub, an organization watching our backs, you say you're a SHIELD agent so I know you understand that! You have a level of security clearance that most agents don't even dream of, Mae! They hand you SHIELD secrets and they need to know that you can keep them!" When he finished Skye knew the argument was over, the tone of finality in his voice meant that she wouldn't get away with anything else. He was playing the Dad card, not the fellow agent one to end this argument.

"Can I ask you one question?" She couldn't help but spit out as he turned to walk away. The fact that that he immediately did bite back 'you just did' left Skye knowing how much she really had angered her father. He just turned and looked at her.

"What?" He said stopping to face her again, his lips pursed into a thin line, Skye couldn't tell if the anger was with her, her actions, or with the system.

"Did you know there was no extraction plan for Ward and Fitz?" Her arms crossed and she looked defensive, after his death her father had changed, of course she knew things like that changed a man but he was so much harder to read, and he wasn't letting his face tell her anything. Skye felt bad for blatantly disrespecting her father, but she wasn't going to apologize for her actions.

"That's classified" He said his arms raising a little then dropping back to his sides before turning away and leaving faster than normal. Skye immediately knew the answer was a no. That also meant that he wasn't necessarily mad at her, he was angry with the system and with one Victoria Hand. Skye figured it wasn't that hard to be pissed at the woman, she spent well over half of the time as that womans rookie pissed at her for some reason or another she just hoped she could get through this whole thing without having to see the other woman. Skye wasn't scared of her, she just knew Victoria Hand was spiteful, in a way that she would blow Skye's cover just for kicks. Skye shook her head, she had more important things to think about and she turned and made her way to locate her mother and what she figured by now would be an extremely irate Simmons.

* * *

Skye wasn't surprised when she saw her Dad in the doorway to her bunk later that night.

"Hey, I was thinking about today and I'm really sorry" Skye started but Phil cut her off quickly.

"I just wanted to let you know that I didn't forget about what you asked me back at the hub" His quick change of topic surprised Skye. She still couldn't read his face, she didn't know if that meant she was forgiven, or if he was still so upset that they weren't going to talk about it.

"What do you mean?"

"The unredacted file about your past" he continued "I found it" Skye momentarily let her curiosity get the better of her.

"What did it say?" She asked as she scooted closer to her father, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"The document wasn't about you directly, it was about the person who dropped you off at the orphanage, turns out it was a SHIELD agent" Skye already knew everything they knew, they had told her weeks ago about how they had been recalled from a cover OP to extract her and blow up the personnel and the labs she was being kept in. This they must not have known.

"A SHIELD agent?" She asked standing up, her surprise clearly evident. She already had SHIELD agents for parents, could it be her biological ones were too? She voiced as much "Why? I mean, who? What does that mean?" Skye was very confused and her brain didn't seem to be able to process this information fast enough.

"The agent was unidentified, we don't know if she was your mother, or if she just found you on a door step" Saying the word mother in reference to anyone other than his wife felt bitter on Phils tongue, Skye thought it sounded weird herself but she couldn't stop the wonder in her voice.

"Mother? It was a woman?"

"I put in a request to dig further into the files and any related materials but right now that's all I have" Phil hated lying to her, he couldn't stand the unwavering trust in his daughter's eyes as she continued to nod at him. "I'm sorry"

"Sorry?" She whispered as she hugged him tightly. "Thank you, Dad" She whispered in his ear. "I know how hard this is for you, but you are my Dad, no amount of blood could change that, and I am really sorry about earlier" She finished with a squeeze and let go, her whispered words were rushed because she hadn't wanted anyone to see them, but she hoped her father understood how much she really meant them. He squeezed her hand quickly then made his way back to his office.

* * *

Melinda was waiting for him when he got back sitting in the chair in front of his desk, file still in hand, her feet propped on the corner of his desk.

"Finish reading it yet?"

"Mm" Was the only response he got as he came to lean against the desk in front of her, one of his hands reaching out to her calve. Finding reassurance in just touching her. "What did you tell her?" His wife asked. The file had less information than the one Fury had given them in that safe house all those years ago, but Phil and Melinda had decided long ago that if she ever found out they would tell her the truth. Now they found themselves doubting if that really was the truth, and if some of it was better kept a secret.

"The truth, I told her a SHIELD agent dropped her off at the orphanage" May tilted her head to the side, regarding her husband with a sigh.

"But you didn't tell her why"

"I can't" he said softly he dropped his wife's gaze to look at the ground "Some secrets are meant to stay secret, how can we possibly tell our daughter what happened when we're beginning to doubt if our own source of information is correct?" He looked at Melinda again and this time it was her turn to look away. "Will you help me find out what really happened?" Melinda's eyes shot right back to his.

"Dangerous waters" Her face showed she was considering it before she moved out of her chair, standing right in front of her husband. "But I can try" She said, resting a hand on his chest, Melinda's other arm moved the file on his desk, all the pictures of the dead agent glaring up at her. "For Skylar you know I'd do anything" She looked back up at her husband before pressing her face to his chest. She felt both of his arms wrap around her tightly before he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Me too"

* * *

 **AN: Hey guys! I'm so sorry for the wait! Life kept happening, between work and moving everything just snowballed from there. These three chapters I had already written but just had to finish, please forgive any errors, I probably read them all way too many times before posting! Anyway, hope you like them! Working on some more, in-between episode moments, some Philinda academy, and some Skye academy. All your reviews/follows/favorites make my day, ya'll are pretty awesome, thank you! Hope you enjoy!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thelma and Louise**

 _(Episode tag for 2x05 A Hen in the Wolf House)_

All worries about potentially causing a scene were the last thing on Skye's mind as she all but stormed into her father's office.

"The reason you won't name your source is because you are the source!" She accused as she slammed the door shut behind her.

"By all means come on in" Skye was very much done with the bullshit that had been their relationship for the past few months.

"Cut the crap Dad, I know it's you so just be honest with me!" They both stare at each for a long time. Her father only shifts his stance, almost begrudgingly admitting she's figured it out. "Are you okay?" She asks her father timidly, worry etched into her facial features.

"I'm fine"

"Because once Garrett started writing he went kind of nuts" Her tone was disbelieving, her father's brush off attitude only angering her further.

"I see you've been talking to Ward"

"What other choice did you leave me with, Dad?" He shifted again, bristling at her.

"I told you, I'm fine, your mother's been keeping an eye on me" Phil realized after he said it that, that assurance would only anger his daughter further, knowing she'd been lied to by both of her parents and not just him. He watched as Skye's face hardened before tossing the pictures of his carvings on his desk.

"When did you start doing this?"

"First night I saw Garrett's writings, just triggered something in me" He answered with a shrug.

"What do you think caused it?"

"The G.H. formula most likely" He said nodding his head. "Garrett and I were both injected, not a coincidence"

"Yeah, but so was I and I haven't written anything like that" Her tone was still a bit disbelieving.

"Which is either very good" He said, walking out and around his desk and toward her. "Or a whole different kind of scary" He stopped in front of her and paused, debating on giving her the next piece of information. "Which is why we had to monitor you" Skye instantly blanched, her face scrunching up in anger.

"Whoa wait, monitor? That is a very specific word!" Skye's tone was none too accepting of the news.

"We didn't tell you about this because we wanted to passively observe, see if the writing would trigger something in you" Phil tried to explain. Skye wasn't having it.

"This is unbelievable! So what? You guys put tiny hidden cameras in my bunk?"

"Not in your bunk" Skye's eyebrows raised as if to ask if that made it justified. Her father hurriedly continued. "But I think you're focusing on the wrong details here" Skye took a step back and just looked at her father, letting herself compartmentalize her anger so she could see the rest of the picture.

"I didn't react the same way?" It came out as more of a timid question than the statement she had been aiming for.

"No. I believe Garrett and I had a negative reaction to the alien DNA in our system, maybe you didn't because it was already there" Phil said as if that explained everything.

"Yeah right Dad, like I'm an alien" Skye had to restrain herself from laughing before she watched her father swallow what seemed to be a rather large lump in his throat. "Hold on are you saying that I am an alien?" Skye started to consider other things happening to her father's brain besides the impulses to carve.

"It's a theory" He said raising his eyebrows like it wasn't that big of a deal.

"No! A theory is what scientists use to prove things in nature! This is you telling your only child she might be an alien! That is not something you just say like it is no big deal Dad!"

"I was trying not to rattle you" He sad trying but failing to defend himself.

"Guess what? Epic fail, Dad!" Before Skye could continue on to just how wrongly this entire situation was handled her mother opened the door, not even bothering to knock.

"Coulson, you have a call on line one"

* * *

Raised voices caught Skye's attention from where she stood in her father's office. She could hear everyone downstairs but a distinctly feminine voice she would know anywhere stood out crystal clear against Hunters screeching.

"Why the hell would you do that!" Skye got to the railing just as she heard Phil tell Hunter to play nice. The brown hair threw her for a second before she saw the body attached to it. All of her earlier misgivings with her father vanished from her head as her eyes took in the sight before her.

"Babs!" Skye took the stairs three at a time before running to Bobbi. Bobbi was smiling so hard that she couldn't make herself say anything as Skye launched herself at her best friend, jumping and wrapping her legs around Bobbi's waist. Instantly both women are laughing, giggling like little school girls rather than high ranked SHIELD agents. Everyone just stared, Fitz-Simmons had made their way into the room at the commotion, Hunter's mouth was gaping like a fish while Mack just looked confused, meanwhile Trip just grinned where he stood next to May.

"I have _missed_ you, Babs!" Skye said before pulling back to look at Bobbi's face, staring at the brown hair with wonder as she pushed it away from Bobbi's face.

"Missed you too, Porcupine" Bobbi and Skye were laughing again before Skye grabbed Bobbi's face with both hands and planted a hard kiss on her lips, just long enough to make everyone uncomfortable before hopping down from her arms. Her gaze remained on Bobbi while she heard a strangled noise come from Hunter.

"You sure are a sight for sore eyes" Skye said running a hand back into Bobbi's brown hair. "This is working for me" Skye's voice was low and teasing, Bobbi just rolled her eyes but before she could manage a retort three things happened rather quickly, Trip laughed, her father cleared his throat, then Hunter rapidly continued his screeching.

"Will someone please explain to me what the bloody hell is going on?" Bobbi, Skye, and Trip began laughing again and Hunter just continued to gape at the women in front of him.

"The whole time here and none of you told him?" Bobbi asked leaning her forehead down against Skye's, exhaustion finally creeping in. Skye picked it up immediately, reaching up to grasp Bobbi's elbows, rubbing the arms that Bobbi had draped on her shoulders. Skye shook her head no, and they both ignored Hunter when he started speaking again.

"It's like we're not even here!" He whined, gesturing toward the two women, who were now speaking in low murmurs to the other that no one could hear. "Babs?" The utter confusion in his had Trip laughing again causing Hunter to look to him for an explanation only to find May grinning too.

"It's what they do, make everyone uncomfortable, they're very good at it" Trip explained while the cogs started turning in Hunter's brain.. "Comes in handy undercover too" Trip commented. Hunters face finally lit up.

"Thelma and Louise!" He exclaimed, snapping his fingers and pointing at Skye. "The roommate from the academy! The one you flew through undercover with!Every one called you Thelma and Louise!" He had been talking to Bobbi but she still ignored him, her attention completely on the woman in front of her. It was Trip who answered again.

"They set a records together at the academy" Hunter made a face demanding more information. "I was there with them" Trip just shook his head as Hunter started to gape at him again, Mack even looked surprised.

"You were… How come none of you said anything?" Hunter returning to his screeching seemed to draw the attention of the two women again and Skye laughed.

"We had far more fun listening to stories about your hell-beast ex-wife" Hunters face quickly turned to one of fear as Bobbi raised an eyebrow in his direction. Skye just chuckled, leaning up to give Bobbi a peck on the cheek before leaving her arms and starting towards Simmons giving her a tight squeeze and promising to visit her later. Skye then made her way back to the stairs, looking at her father and gesturing up to his office. Everyone starting to disperse, the excitement of the evening clearly over.

* * *

Skye waited patiently for her father to finish his words with her mother before he joined her back in his office, closing the door behind himself.

"Your mother will get Bobbi set up with personal quarters" Skye just nodded at his words but still stared out the window, the joy she felt minutes ago at Bobbi's arrival slowly seeping back out of her, replaced with the knowledge of the events that happened previously in the evening.

"It's good to have Simmons back too" Phil made his way over to his daughter at her words and stood next to her.

"Which is why you should be down there" Skye completely ignored the statement and finally turned to her father. She would see Jemma later.

"I know you're going to go after him"

"Skylar"

"No, it's okay, I get it, he's a bad guy and right now he has the obelisk, which is a bad thing. I _know._ I've always had you, I'll always have you... and Mom. I _know_ that" Phil tried to smile, but it turned quickly into a grimace. The thought of anyone else calling his baby girl theirs made his stomach roll. "But I've always wondered who he was and why he left, but after today I just don't care anymore" She shook her head trying to force out the images of those men laying mutilated on the floor in that building. "All I care about is that we stop him and I just wanted to let you know that whatever it takes to do that, I'm in" Phil nodded slowly at her words, trying to interpret all of the feelings his daughter wasn't showing.

"That's good to know"

"If we're gonna do this, you have to be completely honest with me from now on, Dad" The name soothed Phil's fears more than he thought possible. "No more secrets, no more compartmentalization, and definitely no more hidden cameras, whatever's going on you bring me in, no exceptions" She demanded, the tone she used had him holding back a smirk, she sounded so much like Melinda that, that weirdly soothed him too. She was their daughter.

"Okay"

"Okay" Skye whispered back before hugging her father tightly for the second time that night. All of this was so incredibly confusing, and it hurt like hell. Skye found herself wishing, for definitely not the first time in her life that Phil and Melinda were her biological parents. She wished she could just turn off the unrelenting curiosity about her birth parents, turn off that need to know. Who they were won't change who she is. They didn't _deserve_ to know her, she didn't _need_ them. "You're my father" She whispered, she almost thought Phil hadn't heard her before she felt him nod his head over top of hers. As he pulled away she thought maybe he needed that reassurance as much as she did, but before she could say anything her father turned away from her and made his way to his desk.

"We should get started"

* * *

After stopping to say welcome back to Simmons, Skye made her way towards the personal quarters. She found Bobbi's new bunk rather quickly, her friend opting to leave her door open and light on in anticipation of Skye's arrival.

"Hey" Skye murmured as she walked in the room, softly shutting the door softly behind her. Bobbi was sprawled out on her bed, in the same clothes Skye first saw her in. Skye figured she must have been waiting for her.

"Mae" Bobbi's face lit up just like it did earlier that evening and she motioned for Skye to come join her. Skye restrained herself from running to the bed, she sat down heavily before unceremoniously collapsing beside Bobbi throwing her leg and arm around her in the process. Bobbi squeezed her right back. "I missed you so much Mae, I was so worried"

"I know, me too" Skye murmured before Bobbi pulled back to look at her.

"You look like you could use a hot shower and a good nights sleep" Skye scrunched up her face into the adorable expression that led Bobbi to give her the name Porcupine. Bobbi laughed.

"So do you" Skye reached up to brush Bobbi's dark hair away from her face. "But first let's get rid of this" Bobbi shook her head.

"It can wait Porcupine, I just want to rest with you"

"I want my Bobbi, not theirs" Bobbi once again had a smile completely over taking her face as she watched Skye get up, offering her a hand.

"Fine, but we're sleeping until noon tomorrow" Skye barked out a laugh as they made their way to the door.

"We're not at the academy anymore Babs, we probably won't last later that eight thirty" Bobbi just chuckled along with her as they made their way down to the showers.

* * *

Over an hour later both women were standing in a steam filled shower stall, nearly scalding water pouring over both of them. After both of them replayed previous events to each other they had fallen into a comfortable silence, both women just taking comfort in the others presence as the days events lead them both to a heavy feeling of exhaustion.

"There you are" Skye murmured as she pushed Bobbi's now naturally blonde hair out of the taller woman's face. Bobbi just smiled at her, grabbing Skye by the waist and pressing her body against her own. Skye went up on her toes as Bobbi's mouth met hers and Skye smiled into the kiss. Bobbi used that smile to open Skye's mouth beneath her own and deepen the kiss, a low moan echoing in the back of Skye's throat. Skye couldn't tell if they'd been kissing for minutes or hours when Bobbi finally pulled back, dragging Skye's lower lip with her before letting it go with a little pop, resting her forehead against Skye's.

"Take me to bed, Mae" The smile that Skye produced at Bobbi's words was blinding, and Bobbi for the life of her, couldn't remember how she got though so many months without seeing it.

"I thought you'd never ask" Skye chuckled turning off the water and handing Bobbi a towel. She heard the rustle of the shower curtain as she grabbed herself one, wrapping it tightly around herself. When she turned around she almost slammed quite literally into Bobbi's back, as the taller woman stood frozen in place.

"Babs, what the..." Skye's question stopped in her throat when she finally peered over Bobbi's shoulder and made eye contact with her mother and her perfectly arched eyebrows.

* * *

To say Phil and Melinda have always been curious about their daughters relationship with Barbara Morse would be an understatement. Skye had never really defined that relationship, and had never really been willing enough to open up and talk about it without being questioned first. They were roommates and best friends, and that's about all the information they got. They always knew Skye and Bobbi were close, (Ever since that first day Skye brought her home) closer than Melinda thought fit in the boundaries of friendship, but they never asked, they never wanted to be those pushy parents. That's probably why Melinda found herself in the situation she is in right now. Bobbi standing there staring at her with wide eyes, cheeks flushed a deep pink and mouth mimicking a goldfish, having just stepped out of a _shared_ shower with her daughter.

"Babs, what the..." Skye's question fell off as she found her mother's face. A few moments passed before a squeak passed through Skye's lips that sounded suspiciously like "Mom" to Melinda.

"Skylar" She parroted back as her daughter came to stand next to Bobbi instead of behind her. "I came to find you, I talked to your father and I just wanted to make sure you were alright" She glanced at Bobbi as if to say 'It looks like you are'. She watched as he daughter became a bit more sure of herself, her response still coming out a bit sheepish, though Melinda figured anyone would react that way getting caught naked in a shower with someone who's supposed to be just a _friend._

"I'm not thrilled about it" Skye answered with a shrug. "But more than anything I just want to sleep" Melinda watched as Skye reached down to take Bobbi's hand lacing their fingers together. Suddenly a lot of things were beginning to come together in Melinda's head as she looked at the both of them. The ease at which they formed the incredibly intimate couple during undercover ops that made everyone feel uncomfortable, the way (much like Melinda and Phil) that the two didn't speak often on ops together because just knew what the other was going to do. The near year and a half that had Skye's mouth settling into a thin line every time Bobbi's name came up, that was the same time Hunter came around.

Skye shifted suddenly under her mother's scrutiny and Melinda watched how Bobbi's grip on her daughters hand tightened. Melinda bit back a smirk.

"We can talk in the morning" Skye made stunned face before nodding quickly and taking a step forward, pressing a kiss on Melinda's cheek. "Get some rest, both of you" She said as she watched Skye tug on Bobbi's hand, pulling her out of the showers and toward their quarters.

* * *

 **AN: Let's be clear here... I ship Skye with well, just about everyone... Except Ward and maybe Fitz. But for this AU I really wanted to do something different and putting Skye with Bobbi gives me so much to work with! Anyway! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! Oh, and don't asked where Babs came from, I honestly have no idea, but I thought it would be fun. And porcupine is a nice little reference to the movie Bloomington (Please excuse my gayness showing) Thank you once again for reading, your reviews are the bomb!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sunday Mornings**

It was still early when Phil made his way down the stairs of his mother-in-laws house in search of his wife and daughter. He and Melinda had arrived late the night before, just getting back from a three day data recovery mission. He already knew where he would find the two as he made his way into the kitchen, looking out the floor to ceiling windows, finding mother and daughter going through the motions of a now very familiar tai chi routine.

The sun was just starting to rise over the mountains and the view was beautiful. Though, Phil had to admit not as beautiful as his two girls, standing side by side on the back deck, moving gracefully through their routine with their backs to him. Phil was sure it was strange behavior for a kid Skye's age to willingly be up this early on the weekend, just to do tai chi with her mother. Next week would be Skye's twelfth birthday and Phil could hardly believe how big his little girl has grown to be, she is almost as tall as Melinda now, even if that wasn't much of a feat itself, given how small Melinda is. He watched as Skye mirrored every move Melinda made, in complete synchronization and transitioning as smoothly as her mother, no longer needing to be coached through the routine like she did when she was little.

A sudden feeling of nostalgia washes over Phil as he continues to watch his girls follow a movement that turns their heads towards him briefly. Skye's face is overcome with a bright smile and Melinda smirks, giving him a wink before the movement causes them to turn back. He thinks back to the academy, before they even started dating, early mornings where he would meet Melinda for extra training for their combat class. He got there early every morning just to watch the end of her routine, finding the way she moved one of the most beautiful things he'd ever seen. Phil knew that was one opinion he had that would never change. He remembers the first time he ever woke up to see her across the floor of his academy dorm, following one of their many morning afters, gliding through her routine covered in only his t-shirt, having skipped going down the gym just because she wanted to stay with him.

He finds himself smiling harder, looking over his wife's body with a sharper gaze as he recalls mornings when he would wake to Melinda across the room of their first apartment, a small studio they got for in between ops. He remembers the sun peeking through the blinds, reflecting off of her gloriously naked body as she followed through the same routine and he laid there, frozen in place watching, unable to remove his gaze from the sight that had been before him. Moments like that rarely happen now if at all, especially when you had a kid that sometimes forgets to knock. Tai chi had always been something that fascinated Skye. Phil can clearly remember a two year old Skye, toddling around Melinda in the early mornings, trying and failing to follow through the movements. He also remembers a six year old Skye, sleepy eyed rushing into their room every morning to join Melinda, and his wife pausing every few moves to correct Skye's stance, which usually ended in giggles. Skye has always been overly ticklish and Phil could still hear the echoes of her laughter just thinking about it.

As he watches his daughter now, he wonders sadly where all the time has gone when he can remember so clearly holding his little baby in his arms. That wasn't _cool_ anymore, even though Skye would occasionally indulge him. He watched them continue moving for a few more minutes before realizing they were almost done. He moved the short distance to the counter, setting up a teapot to boil water and placed two mugs on the countertop, placing a teabag in each before getting a mug for himself and pouring himself some of the already brewed coffee. He headed back upstairs, and moved through regular motions he usually went through at home, somewhere in the back of his brain realizing Lian must have left earlier that morning for Washington.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later the bathroom door opened and Phil smiled, glad this part of their morning routine wasn't something that had changed. He could live without watching his wife do tai chi naked every morning if he still got this. Warm arms wrapped around him from behind as Melinda joined him in the shower, pressing kisses between his shoulder blades as she hummed.

"Good morning" He murmured to his wife as he turned to face her, water beating against his back. Her arms instantly moved to wrap around his neck, hands automatically finding the hair at the nape of his neck, playing with it. She pressed herself completely against his front, smirking at him with an eyebrow raised. He knew he was caught.

"Feeling nostalgic this morning?" She asked looking up at him. Phil just grinned before kissing her, it was long and languid, making Phil smile against her mouth. Fifteen years and this woman never ceased to amaze him. As Melinda moved to deepen their kiss, trying to somehow push herself closer to him, Phil nipped at her bottom lip before pulling away.

"Skye's waiting for breakfast, it's Sunday" He said quietly, and Melinda let out a huff.

"Tease"

"I didn't do anything!" Phil replied indignantly as Melinda switched places with him, moving herself under the spray of water.

"Nothing? Only imagining me naked this morning with those baby blues?" She teased him, holding his face with both of his hands. Phil still resisted, wondering how she could possibly know that's what he had been thinking before realizing its probably from how often he does it.

"I have no idea what your talking about" He grumbled and Melinda just hummed in response as Phil moved under the spray of the water with her, is lips grazing her neck. "Can you really blame me?" Melinda chuckled as Phil ran his hands down her torso to her thighs then back up again before he pressed a kiss the top of her head and left the shower to towel off, leaving a grumbling Melinda behind.

"You owe me later" Melinda informed him from the other side of shower door, and Phil just chuckled, mumbling something as he walked out that sounded suspiciously like going down on her until she couldn't walk and Melinda's laugh echoed through the guest room.

* * *

When Melinda finally joined them downstairs she saw Skye sitting at the kitchen island devouring what looks to have been a stack of at least four pancakes and Phil at the stove flipping more. Melinda smiled at the sight, placing a kiss on Skye's head before making her way towards Phil who was still focusing on the stove, humming softly. She wrapped her arms around his middle once again, standing on her tiptoes to kiss the back of his neck.

"Hi beautiful" Phil turned his head back to give Melinda a proper kiss before there was a sound of silverware clattering and choking noises. All too used to this both adults turned to look at Skye who was miming vomiting on the floor.

"Ew gross, you guys are going to make me lose my breakfast!" Both Phil and Melinda turned to look at each other, silently agreeing on the next course of action before Phil suddenly went back to cooking as if nothing was about to happen and Melinda started to make her way around the counter.

"No!" Skye wailed as Melinda got closer. "No no no!" But before Skye could remove herself from the seat to run Melinda was already there tickling Skye all over and peppering her face with kisses. Skye's laughter started echoing through the house. "Dad! Dad, help!" Phil kept his attention on the stove, flipping pancakes as he started to whistle. Skye started huffing, trying desperately to resist laughing and failing. "Mom!" She gasped out, trying to wiggle away. "Mom! I'll tickle you back!" She gasped out, and this made Melinda bark out a laugh.

"I'm not ticklish!" Skye fell into a fit of laughter again as Melinda found an extremely sensitive spot across Skye's ribs. Phil finished the last pancake flipping it on a plate and turned to watch just as Skye's hand reached out and went right underneath Melinda's left arm. It only took another second for the older woman to produce a shriek and jump, giving Skye just enough time to dart away and towards the stairs laughing. Melinda composed herself enough to look at Phil who was biting his lip to refrain from laughing at her, his eyes dancing with mirth.

"You told her!" Melinda accused.

"I did no such thing!" Phil's eyes were wide as if he had been caught, before he realized he really hadn't told Skye.

"Actually it was Gram!" Skye giggled from the where she had stopped at the bottom of the stairs and Melinda turned back to her with narrowed eyes. Skye giggled again and blew a raspberry are her mother before taking off up the stairs, yelling over her shoulder as she went. "Thanks for the pancakes, Daddy!"

Phil just chuckled and looked back at his wife, motioning for her to have a seat before he placed pancakes in front of her and a kiss on her cheek. Things may be ever changing in their life, but he loved every minute of it.

* * *

 **AN: How awesome was that premiere? I've already watched it wayyyyy too many times. Though there wasn't any May hence this little chapter. I was feeling a little fluffy (this is considered fluff right?) and while I'm always hopeful, I'm not seeing any philinda moments in our near future. But that whole "I lost my right hand too!" Ugh, well done Clark, well done. Anyway! Thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoyed. Your reviews, favs, and follows are absolutely spectacular!**


	10. Chapter 10

**My Sister's Keeper**

He first meet her when he was twelve. She was seven at the time, small, she looked like she could blow away with the wind standing there behind his Mom's legs. She barely managed a wave when he greeted her after his Mom told him she was staying with them for the weekend. Something about Maria's Dad being out of town.

Over months she stayed with them more and more, and finally she learned to trust Phil. He had come to notice she was skittish around all men though she tried to hide it very well. One Saturday when he was walking her back from the local playground he noticed it. Maria had been too busy chatting away (the little chatterbox Phil had learned she was) to notice him staring at it. The sleeve of her sweater had ridden up her forearm from where she was holding Phil's hand. The dark brown of the bruise standing out harshly on Maria' pale skin in the distinct shape of a hand print. Even at twelve Phil could figure out just why his Mom had the little girl over so often.

* * *

By the time Phil is fourteen Maria is a regular fixture in their lives. He would walk her home from school everyday and bring her over to spend every weekend with them, she spent mostly all of the summer holiday with them. Little Maria seemed to flourish right before his eyes, smiling brightly when she'd see him and actually letting herself laugh aloud. They had even adopted names for each other, Maria affectionately referring to him as Philly and Phil always calling her Ria-Bia in retaliation before it evolved into just Bia. One week when she spent a few days at home over the summer holiday Phil spent night and day in the guest room that Maria usually slept in. He painted the walls her favorite color and put together all the furniture he and his mother had picked out the week before. He'll never forget the smile that overcame Maria's face when she finally saw it.

* * *

When he's sixteen something else happens that he'll never forget. That was the year he joined the basketball team and couldn't walk Maria home from school everyday. It was a Friday when he was picking her up after practice to spend the weekend with him and his mom. Before he could knock on the front door he heard yelling, it was loud and slurred and it only took Phil a second to realize it was Maria's father before he opened the door. Phil took in the scene quickly, Maria sitting like a statue at their dinner table, looking frozen in horror with tears running down her cheeks. Her father's face inches from hers, screaming in a drunken rage. He remembers so clearly when she turned to look at him, eyes wide with fear and the choked "Philly" escaping her lips. Her father was so drunk he never noticed Phil, grabbing her arm tightly and twisting it, trying to demand eleven year old Maria's attention. Phil still couldn't believe how fast he moved to land a solid punch right across the older man's cheek bone. In the time it had taken the older man to stumble back and drunkenly fall to the ground Phil had scooped up Maria in his arms and exited the house.

It wasn't until after Maria was in bed that night that his Mom finally explained everything to him. What exactly happened to Maria's mother. That she died during childbirth and that was what fueled Tom Hill's hatred of the sweet little girl. Julia Coulson had looked into getting social services on the case but given Maria had no bruises at the time and that Maria refused point blank to admit what was going on they never had any evidence to make a case against him. Phil was the first one to ever see it happen, and after that Maria came to live with them permanently. It was also made official that year too. It was a long process but she was legally his little sister by the end of the following summer. There was lots of lawyers and social workers and Phil had to recite what happened that night many times. Maria had finally admitted to all the pain her father put her through and how much she thought her mother's death was indeed her fault. He can vividly remember his mother rocking her, tears running down her own face simply telling the little girl repeatedly that it wasn't.

* * *

Phil had managed to get a weekend of leave at the academy for Maria's fourteenth birthday and that was the first time Maria had ever called Julia, Mom. He could remember so clearly the gift wrap that still covered Maria's lap as she looked at her gift (A gold locket that had once been his grandmothers) with watery eyes before looking up at Julia. Whispering a quiet thank you before calling her Mom instead of the usual Julia. Phil couldn't remember another time he had seen his mother smile so hard (Well until today, of course).

* * *

Phil can still remember the haze of craziness he felt his last year at the academy getting that call at two AM. Maria was sixteen and her voice was heartbreaking on the other end of the line telling him that her father got off on parole. That he had called the house, asking to apologize, that he loved her and he was sorry, asking her to come see him. How Maria had left without telling their Mom and went to his house only to find him slumped over in a chair, a nine millimeter pistol on the ground and a bullet hole in his temple. He had left a note for her on the table. "It's all your fault" A desperate, sick man's last chance to get back at his innocent child. Phil scrambled to get home to her, not even waiting for approved time off before leaving. The next day when he got a call from his SO he was sure it was to tell him he was getting tossed out on his ass only to find out Melinda had taken care of everything for him. They had only been dating a few months at the time, his mother and Maria demanded to meet her after that.

* * *

Now it's three years later and Phil thinks the smile on his sister's face might actually be the biggest he's ever seen. Maria had graduated high school since then, a year early in fact and joined the marines much to their Mom's dismay. She had only served for a year and a half before being recruited by Phil's own SO Nick Fury. Julia Coulson didn't like that much better but liked that Phil would be able to look out for his little sister, though, the things he and Melinda have heard through the grapevine assured him that they didn't have to worry much. She was in her second year at the operations academy and she was firmly at the top of her class and was set to graduate early.

"She's beautiful, Philly" Now twenty year old Maria murmured, never taking her eyes off the little bundle of baby in her arms. The nickname surprised him, they don't use them nearly as much as they used to as they've grown older and become adults. Phil had called and gotten her a weekend away from Ops and told his Mom that he and Melinda were coming to visit. Julia Coulson had held his little Skylar Mae close to her chest, rocking her gently as she scolded Phil and Melinda about not being informed she even had a granddaughter on the way. Phil tried to explain without giving away too many mission details that they had been unable to contact anyone. Maria on the other hand didn't seem to care much about the details when she finally got handed little Skylar Mae.

"You must get those looks from your Mommy Skylar Mae" She whispered conspiratorially and Melinda snorted at Phil's offended look. Skye started to wiggle before her eyes popped open to look at Maria. "Oh Hi Skylar Mae" She greeted softly, and Phil had to smile as he watched his little sisters smile get even bigger. Melinda gripped his shoulder quickly before leaving to make Skye a bottle in the kitchen. "I'm your Aunt Maria, I love you so much already sweetie, so much" Phil just watched as Maria continued to murmur to his daughter. As he looked back on it now he almost couldn't believe the woman his little sister has become. He was so unbelievably proud of her and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that his little Skylar Mae would grow up with the best examples of strong, independent and loving women.

"Stop looking at me like that Philly" Maria's sudden glare brought him out of his thoughts as Melinda walked back in, bottle and burp cloth in hand. She sat down next to Maria and continued to show the woman how to feed her niece. As Skye started to suck away greedily at her bottle Maria placed a kiss on her little forehead. "You're Aunt Bia loves you so much Skylar Mae" She murmured again.

* * *

 **AN: Hey all! once again, SUPER thanks for reading! I hope you all are enjoying. Sorry that these last two updates have been rather short, I have some longer chapters in the works, just have to work out all the kinks before posting. I just wanted to answer some of the questions that were left in the comments... Firstly, yes, at some point there will be more of the Avengers, I've been watching a lot of Iron Man and Thor trying to see how I could write Skye in there with the relationship I want Skye and Tony to have. Secondly, I am currently working on Skye's cover reveal and the TRACKS episode, but I want to finish Coulson's kidnapping first. Oh, and there is definitely more Bobbi/Skye coming. (Pun absolutely intended) My problem is I have so many unfinished chapters because I suddenly get new idea mid chapter! I'm trying to get them to you guys! So once again, thank you for all your favorites and follows! You're reviews are very much appreciated, I love to hear what everyone thinks! I feel like I can't say it enough, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hail Hydra!**

 _(Episode tag for 1x16 End of the Beginning and 1x17 Turn, Turn, Turn)_

Skye's eyes scanned over the four top brass operatives in front of her before looking back at her father.

"Pairing off makes total sense, just one thought though, what if we make it a double blind?"

"How so?" Her old SO asked.

"Well, I'll give one person from each team the potential clairvoyants coordinates and I'll give the other one the identity, that way no one person will have the full specs until you get there" Skye explained and she really wished her father would stop looking at her like he's so proud of her ideas, sometimes it almost bordered on offensive.

"I like the way you think"Garrett told her before turning to the top brass and repeating himself. "I like the way she thinks" Skye had to restrain from rolling her eyes, that man was truly disgusting. She caught Tripp looking at her over his SO's shoulder and had to look away quickly to stop herself from smiling at him. She hadn't seen him in months, and being unconscious on a gurney with two bullets wounds didn't count.

"One question, how am I supposed to access all the classified files without someone in the room? I don't have clearance" Having not discussed this beforehand, Skye was curious how all of this was going to pan out.

"Now you do" And for one awful moment Skye thought he was blowig her cover. "Welcome to SHIELD Skye" Skye thought her Aunt Natasha would be so proud of how she played this off, everyone smiling at her and congratulating her. She tried not to laugh at her old SO's backhand comment about only being a level one and completely ignored Garrett's comment all together.

* * *

Skye had just finished moving all of her equipment to the cage so she could brief everyone when the door suddenly opened.

"Your father has an awful lot of faith in this mission" Hand said as she walked into the cage, closing the door behind her.

"Vic, hey, I heard you're leaving" Skye greeted, ignoring her statement. Hand only nodded, not even surprised that somehow Skye already knew when she herself got the information just minutes ago. There was an awkward pause before Hand spoke again.

"I'll be running back end from the Hub, provide tactical support when it's needed" Skye just stared at her from where she sat at the table, her laptop and multiple phones in front of her.

"That's not why you came to see me" Hand just nodded.

"I came to see you because you're the highest ranking officer on this bus" Hand paused to make sure she had Skye's full attention and watched as the younger woman's facade slipped away replaced with the hardened SHIELD operative Skye had grown to be.

"Agent Blake has come to me expressing some concerns about level eight Agents" Skye held up a hand effectively cutting the older woman off mid sentence.

"This is something I'm already aware of Vic, it's being handled" Hand's eyes narrowed at the standard brush off and Skye sincerely regretted not being able to give them more, but not being in contact with Fury or Hill in weeks meant she didn't have the authorization to give Hand the information she needed. Hell, she couoldn't even inform her parents. Hand finally nodded after regarding her and moved back to the door.

"Before you leave, Bobbi is still out working those ops with Izzy right?" Skye asked Hand quickly and Hand's eyes narrowed again then she shook her head. Skye just nodded, not quite sure she kept the disappointment out of her eyes. Something was about to happen, and though Skye had no idea what, she was more than irritated that she couldn't even inform the people closest to her.

"Give Izzy my love" She said as Hand moved to open the door. "And Vic?" the older woman paused to look back at her. "Be careful" The older woman's eyes narrowed for the last time before she exited the room with a short nod.

* * *

"Okay on this phone you will find a set of coordinates to one of the three potential clairvoyants I've chosen, when you're within a mile your partner will be granted access to candidates name and profile on their own phone, make sense?" She asked, Garrett just stuck out his lip and nodded at her from the other side of the table.

"You know we haven't officially met, John Garrett" He said offering his hand to shake. Skye kept her surprised smile and shook his hand, swallowing her urge to vomit as she thought of Bobbi.

"I guess lying unconscious on a gurney really should not count" She tried to laugh and hoped her discomfort came off as part of her remark, not for her disdain for the only other time they had spoke.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he sat back in his seat.

"A lot better actually"

"I've been shot a couple times myself, back, shoulder, had my throat cut once, but you know the toughest one?" Skye watched as he pulled down his sweater to reveal a burn scar on his neck. She cringed thinking about the one she had covering her back. "The thing about a third degree burn, the burn itself doesn't hurt at all, crazy right? The nerve endings get all fried, but the area around the burn, that's smarts, still, gut shots the worst" Skye just nodded playing right along with him.

"Sir, I know what you did for me, how you risked your life to save me, so thank you" She watched him carefully trying to analyze everything he said. While Fury had tipped her off on Garrett but she was still struggling to make all the connections she felt were right under her nose, but this guy was awfully good at hiding things.

"You've got a good team around you, I just jumped on the bandwagon" He offered.

"Well, you trained one of them sir" She said with a smile, thinking of Ward.

"I guess it all comes full circle, Ward's your SO, I was his, turn, turn, turn, this SO thing goes both ways, you've had a big impact on him" Skye smiled. "He's different then how I remember him"

"Different how?" Skye questioned.

"The tough thing about being a specialist is being alone, being on a team gives you a whole new perspective, that's the difference between fighting against something and fighting for something or someone, Wards got that now" Garrett said getting up. "Thanks for this, and Skye" He said pausing at the door. "Loose the Sir, I'm a SHIELD agent, just like you"

* * *

Skye spent the next ten minutes over analyzing that conversation in her head. Adding certain bits to other things she's been working on. That's when Tripp walked in.

"Girl, aren't you a sight for sore eyes" He said as he closed the door and Skye immediately got out of her seat and launched herself at her friend.

"Tripp" She said hugging him tightly.

"I'm going to need you to refer to me as Sir, given I'm your superior officer and all" They both laughed as they sat down and Skye went to work on his phone.

"I'm glad to see you better, you had me worried Skye" Skye handed him his phone before taking his hand. "I'm fine Tripp, good as new" She told him with a smile.

"Coming from the woman who tried to tell me she was fine with a back of charred flesh and six stab wounds, that wasn't a call to your parents I liked making" Skye hid her grimace with a laugh, they didn't have time to talk failed missions and not nearly enough alcohol. She could feel her back itch at the wound being mentioned after she just thought of it minutes before.

"Well I'm fine now Tripp, really" She squeezed his hand before he got up to leave. "Have you heard from Bobbi?" Tripp's eyes were overcome with mutual understanding before he shook his head. Skye just nodded, "Be careful Tripp"

* * *

"Okay, you're all set" Skye said, unhooking the phone and handing it to her father.

"I hope you paired me with someone good, or interesting at least" Skye just looked at her computer and stopped herself from biting her nails, and nervous habit her father was sure to pick up. She just hoped who she paired her father with didn't end with him being dead.

"Stop worrying" He told her, and Skye looked up at him and refrained an eye roll. "You wear your heart on your sleeve, and your face. How are you a specialist?" Skye grimaced at him.

"It's a cover Dad, I could go back to being completely impassive if you'd like?" Phil chuckled.

"I trust your judgment" He told her seemingly ignoring her last statement. "The way you see the world, it's different than the rest of us, that's why I want you to dig deeper into these" He said pointing at her laptop screen.

"The candidates psych evaluations?" Skye questioned, wondering where he was going with this.

"The clairvoyant thinks he can read our minds, see if you can read his, we need some insight into who this person really is, a weakness, so do what you do, find the exploit, and stop worrying" He grinned at her. He knew she never liked being in charge of ops like these, of being in charge of so many people. Before she could open her mouth her father turned around and looked at her before exiting the room. "I'll be careful" He told her without Skye having to tell him to. All Skye could do was swallow hard, nodding. Trying to piece everything together in her head. Between figuring out this clairvoyant thing and what as going down with Garrett and Ward and some more of the level eight operatives Skye was getting a massive migraine. She rubbed her temples, trying to figure out if all of this was potentially connected. The idea only made her head pound harder.

* * *

It had been a long day, nothing went as it should, Blake was in ICU and the clairvoyant was now supposedly dead. As Skye walked out of the cage she knew one thing, the feelings Ward had been developing for her were way deeper than she originally thought. She knew later she could use that to her advantage, while she knew she had to admit to herself that she was starting to feel a lot softer towards him, she was going against everything in her gut trying to trust him as she got to know him. Knowing his feelings for her were far greater than hers she knew she could use that to her advantage if her gut turned out to be right. She made her way to her Dad's office, knowing they had a lot to discuss When she found him he was sitting on the edge of his desk a look of utter confusion on his face.

"Mind if I talk some stuff through with you?" She asked as she stepped into his office. "Are you busy?"

"I'm worried" He didn't even look at her.

"About Ward?" He finally looked at her and nodded. "I can't believe he'd just kill someone like that, but I think he killed the wrong man" Her father's eyebrows knit together.

"So I'm not the only one" He said grimly. "How do we know it was him? He never spoke, the computer spoke for him. How do we know he was the one controlling it?"

"So you think he was a prop?" Her dad shrugged his shoulders "And now he's dead"

"The attacks led us right to him, the investigation all wrapped up in a neat little bow, I feel like he could still be out there right now, in our heads" Skye stared at her father for a minute before everything started to piece together in her head.

"Or in our files" Phil's gaze snapped back to hers in question "When you told me to look into those files you said something, you said read his mind, and it got me thinking, and Ward said that the clairvoyant knew how to push all the right buttons"

"Raina did that to me too" Phil muttered.

"Did she mention Grandpa's death?" She asked so cautiously, her father's father had always been a touchy subject, he didn't speak of him much, and her grandmother died before Skye was old enough to remember her. The most information she had on her grandfather were the little tidbits her father would give her when they worked on Lola together. He didn't speak of him nearly as much as he and her Aunt Maria spoke of their mother. She watched as her father stiffened. "Your psych evaluation called it a defining moment" Phil's eyes widened before he took the tablet from her. "These aren't just personality tests Dad, there is surveillance on every agent, pictures, stats, where you've been stationed , who you visit, where you like to eat" Skye watched as her father's gaze snapped up at that.

"Dinners at the Richmond" Skye processed her father's muttering quickly, remembering everything that was in her father's file.

"Mom isn't supposed to be in your file per Fury" Skye said trying to process everything out loud. "They refer to her as the cellist but I'm not in there, I don't even have a file, it says how you loved to watch her play, but Mom doesn't play anymore, not since, and diners at the Richmond, you guys went there every year for your anniversary before... And mentioning your parents, that would be every button they could possibly push..." Skye trailed off, trying to put together all of these pieces in her head.

"They've been monitoring us, think about it, the clairvoyant only knew you'd be at Quinn's villa" Phil had started

"After I dropped the tracker" Skye finished for him before starting again "and the only thing he's had trouble seeing is what happened to you after you died"

"Because Director Fury wouldn't release that file to anyone, or yours for that matter, that's why he doesn't know who you really are" Phil finished.

"No" Skye whispered, hoping she was wrong as all the pieces came together ad her brain started screaming at her.

"The clairvoyant doesn't have abilities, he has security clearance, he's an agent of SHIELD"

Skye rapidly took in all the information as her father left the room, presumably to go to Ward. Her mind was screaming, Garrett, Garrett, _Garrett_! She had abandoned that theory weeks ago when she couldn't find anything to support it. Skye clamped her teeth over her tongue to stop her scream of rage. Slamming her fist against her father's desk she rapidly typed with her other hand, trying to touch base with the commander, only to find another dead end. She slammed her fist against the desk again trying to figure out how to go about this, but she didn't have _time._

Skye darted to the cockpit hoping to reach Fury but before she could make her way to the cockpit she found an overly distraught Fitz going on about Melinda's hard line. She rapidly thought of a plan as she told Fitz to cut that line. It was sloppy but using her mother as a mole when she knew she wasn't one was the easiest way she could think of at the moment. Without permission to disclose anything she didn't have much of a choice. She darted to the cockpit and got there just in time to see her mother slam the phone back on the wall.

"I had Fitz cut your line. I don't have much time to explain but we have a mole, the clairvoyant is an agent" Melinda looked over her daughter's distraught form before nodding, and grabbing her ICER.

"You do not under any circumstances tell your father you knew about this" Melinda says gesturing to the cabinet that held the phone. Skye nodded before Melinda continued. "Or TAHITI, no matter how ugly it gets and Skylar, it's going to get ugly, let it, I trust you" She didn't give Skye anytime to argue before dropping down into the tunnels below the cock pit and Skye didn't have any time to think about it before running back to the cage.

* * *

Skye had to admit she didn't expect all of this to escalate so quickly, she also didn't expect her father to have a real gun aimed at her mother's head. She needed to get to the cockpit to find out where the hell they were going, but at this point she knew she couldn't blow her damn cover, but she would do anything to defuse this situation.

"Drop the damn weapon and kick it over the stairs May! Now!" Phil yelled from the top of the steps. Skye kept her ICER trained on her mother, the only thing making her feel better was the safety that was still on. Her mother kicked the weapon to the to the stairs as her father commanded she back up and he finally came down them.

"Talk, tell us where you rerouted the plane!" Her father demanded, and Skye wasn't sure she had ever seen him this angry, not even when she snuck out at two AM when she was sixteen and took Lola. She had no idea what was going through his head but she was almost offended for her mother that he believed this so easily.

"I didn't set this new course! I swear!"

"Don't lie to me!"

"Oh the plane just turned around for god's sakes!" Fitz echoed from behind the glass doors.

"How is this happening then?" Phil demanded.

"HQ can override automated control of the avionics, they can take us anywhere they want" Skye answered quickly before realizing she should have let her mother answer that, Melinda made an exasperated look before cutting Skye off hoping to distract Fitz from Skye's answer.

"Let me check the instrument panel and I'll be able to-"

"No way" Fitz interrupted again from the lab, seemingly paying no notice to Skye's answer.

"You're not going anywhere until you explain what the-"

"It's not me!" Skye could tell her mother was getting far to frustrated, frankly so was Skye. She was now one hundred percent sure this was the worst idea she ever had, she just hoped she wasn't the one causing her parents to divorce. Then again, at this point she figured that would be a good option, she'd prefer that to her father pulling that tigger.

"Why did you have an encrypted hardine?" Her father demanded.

"And try to shoot me when I found it?" Fitz tacked on, still not coming out of the lab.

"Let's just take a breath" Skye suggested, her father angry declared that wasn't going to happen while taking a step towards Melinda again, adjusting his grip on his gun. Melinda's hands flew up again.

"It was a dedicated channel, to Director Fury, that's the truth!" Melinda tried to explain and when Phil looked towards Skye as if to confirm she could feel her mother's eyes boring into her skull, as if to make her deny it. Skye's shoulders felt like lead as she lifted them in a shrug and shook her head, condemning her own mother.

"Director Fury? I haven't been able to get him on the line for weeks" And here Skye thought this was funny, because she hadn't been able to either and she _had_ used the hard line, having far more important things to discuss with the useless Director than her father's curiosity. Like maybe traitors, those were pretty important, Skye thought bitterly. She had so many choice words running through her head for that idiot they called their Director. "You were reporting to him?" Phil just questioned again.

"That's all I can tell you" It pained Skye to see the plea in his eyes.

"Oh just come out with it!" Fitz sounded again.

"That's all you can tell us?"

"I'm under orders!" And the pause her father takes at this makes Skye think maybe her dad is seeing past his rage, separating their work from their marriage. "Fury will tell you" Melinda tried to urge him.

"What? Was this an order? To shoot me in the bloody head?" Skye had to bite her tongue from telling Fitz to shut the hell up.

"Hold on!" Phil yelled silencing Fitz. "We're not headed to Fury any more!"

"I don't know where were headed" Melinda sighed, and Skye realized her mother was trying to hide the defeat in her voice. "And I can't get Fury on the line because Fitz cut the line!" Skye thought she'd never be more grateful to see her mother's anger flare.

"Skye told me to!"Fitz defended himself and Skye explained quickly when her father looked to her.

"Someone was talking to the clairvoyant, the real clairvoyant?" Skye tried to answer but her mother bypassed her answer going towards the only suspect they had in the room at the moment.

"You were in the walls Fitz! You wanna explain why you were tampering with the planes SAT cable?"

"Sure! Because that's relevant! Don't try and turn this around on me" That response had Skye slamming down the reflex to turn her gun on an actual threat, but as her father lowered his gun and raised the ICER in order to turn to Fitz, Skye couldn't stop her breath of relief when no one was looking. She doubted Fitz had anything to do with this, Ward on the other hand, Skye clamped her teeth over her tongue again.

"Fitz" Phil said waiting for an explanation, his tone almost shockingly softer than what it had been seconds ago towards his own wife. Skye couldn't deny her own outrage at that while Fitz took a few seconds to answer.

"I was trying to speak to Simmons at the Hub" Fitz explained, looking at the floor. Skye decided to remain silent.

"And you needed an encrypted line? What's so secret that-"

"Well you tell me!" Fitz interrupted angrily. "Simmons and I know that you to have been whispering and keeping things from us about the drug that saved your life! _Simmons_ is just trying to figure out how the whole thing works!"

"Fitz, who is she talking to?" Melinda asked, and Fitz's face looked stunned while Phil walked towards the glass, though Skye noted he still kept his ICER trained on Melinda.

"Fitz open the door"

"No way not until we sort this out, I'm not opening it"

"We can't get anything sorted until you open the damn door" When Fitz shook his head again Phil walked back towards Skye but kept his eyes on Melinda the whole time.

"Skye get your laptop hooked up to our systems, see if you can pull up any of our communications" He told her, knowing full well she could. "I wanna know where this plane is going and why" And Skye nodded before making her way to the door, trying to keep herself from wincing when she heard her mother plead with her father and his yell in response. Skye made a 'do it now' gesture to Fitz before he finally opened the door to the lab. While she went to work getting her laptop she could see her mother's frustration visible in her stance in the corner of her eye. Her fathers gun never wavered in its aim as he turned back to Fitz demanding to know who he was talking to.

* * *

When Skye finally got everything set up and communications through her laptop all she could get was noise.

"What do you mean noise?" Her father demanded from where he had moved into the lab, her mother followed though his ICER was still trained on her.

"I mean literally noise, across every SHIELD communication channel, some sort of blanket signal" Skye answered

"Encoded data maybe" Fitz suggested.

"Wanna fill us in?" Phil demanded of his wife, and Skye wanted to shake him, like Melinda would know anything about this. "We route you out, a mole, suddenly our plane shuts down, our communications jammed" Skye didn't even hide her eye roll after that.

"I don't know what's happening, I wish I did, you have to believe me" Skye could tell her mother was moving towards desperate.

"No, I don't" Skye clamped her teeth around her tongue to refrain from speaking. Suddenly Garrett's voice came across the radio. Skye had to fight the urge to let the drones kill the man. That wasn't her _orders._ Things happened way too quickly from there, Garrett reporting that he was making his way towards them and before Skye had time to react she heard the ICER shot and watched her mother fall to the ground, she clenched her teeth as her father started speaking with Fitz.

"Fitz can you manually wire the guns to weapons control? Bypass our system?"

"If I have cables long enough, yeah" Fitz nodded, his mouth still hanging open as he looked where Melinda fell.

"Skye" Phil had to pause at the look on his daughters face. "Decode the signal, we need to get ahead of this, I don't want anymore surprises today" Skye's mouth remained clamped shut as Fitz scurried away. At this point Skye was far beyond caring if her cover was blown.

"What that really necessary?" Skye yelled, gesturing to her mother. Phil looked at her confused. "Don't you dare give me that face! That was inexcusable! You _know_ it's not her and you're letting your emotions control your reactions! She kept something from you, and that hurts but you are being ridiculous! We all have orders to follow that we don't agree with, but we do them, because _that's our damn job_! You taught me that!" Skye went to gather up her things, she needed to get to the command center before she completely lost it. "She's your god damn wife" Skye whispered out of her clenched teeth. "ICE her again and I ICE you, because clearly you've lost your ever loving mind!" She said before storming out of the lab.

* * *

Skye stored her anger for later as Phil and Fitz made their way into the command center. She could hear the docking hatch opening and Garrett making his way down the stairs and she tried like hell to fight down every instinct she had.

"It's a simple message repeated, symatic semantic encoding, I needed to find the mnemonic key, it should only take me a minute longer to decipher" Skye explained as Garrett stormed in.

"Can I ask the obvious question! What the hell?" He yelled, Skye thought that was quite obvious.

"We don't know, we don't even know where our plane is headed" Phil tried to explain but Garrett cut him off.

"Oh I saw your trajectory, you're being tractor beamed straight to the Hub, those drones were launched out of there for sure" Phil shook his head as he tried to comprehend what was happening. Skye's eyes hadn't left Garrett, it's had to be Vic, she must have figured out something.

"Victoria Hand" Phil muttered, just loud enough to hear. That had Skye's attention snapping back to her father. While it was possible, Skye knew it wasn't true, he was standing right in front of her. With the orders she was given, the only option she had left was to see where all of this was going.

"Hand? It can't be"

"It can't be what, now?" Garrett asked and Skye's gaze snapped right back to him.

"The clairvoyant" She said watching him. He didn't seem to notice her stare as he questioned her father.

"I thought Ward capped that guy?" Skye couldn't help but notice how good he was, he didn't give away a single indicator.

"I don't believe the man Ward killed was the clairvoyant, I think he was an unwilling decoy meant to end our investigation" Phil explained.

"That's a lot of trouble to go through for a red herring, don't you think?" _I don't know,_ Skye thought, _you're the one that came up with it._

"Because the clairvoyant is a SHIELD agent, using high level clearance to stay ahead of us, make it seem like she's got psychic abilities" Skye bite back a sigh at her father's insistence that it was Hand.

"She?" Garrett questioned. "You think Victoria Hand is the clairvoyant? I don't mean to pee in the punch bowl but that doesn't make a lot of sense. I was stationed with Vic at Lismon, she's a hard ass and a buzz kill at parties I grant you, but do you really think she's capable of that?" Skye for once agreed with Garretts assessment. The feeling made her want to vomit as she tried to figure out what his play was here.

"Excuse me, didn't she just try to blow you out of the sky?" Skye didn't see that as a good excuse when she has been more than tempted to slit the mans throat.

"Don't get me wrong she's definitly gone nuts, but her actions prove she's not the clairvoyant right? She's been hiding in plain sight all this time, why reveal herself now?" A low beep from her laptop had Skye focusing back on the screen

"Guys" She murmured watching the words decrypt on the screen.

"Out of the shadows and into the light" Her father read and Skye felt her stomach dropping.

"Well I'll be" Garrett whispered as the last word began to fill out, Skye could only stare at the screen slack jawed as the word Hydra appeared, no one noticed as her hand went behind her back, gripping the gun there.

* * *

"I thought Hydra was defeated after world war two?" Fitz questioned

"It was, and SHIELD was founded in the wake of that victory" Phil answered.

"And now they're back?"

"Hydra always comes back" Garrett answered this time, and Skye fought the urge to grab for her gun again. She knew now more than ever what Fury had found, and why it was so important for her cover to be kept, for her family to be hidden. Hydra would exploit any weakness you have.

"Cut off one head and two more will take it's place" Phil added, while Skye remained silent.

"Is it a head? I thought it was a limb?" Garrett questioned

"No no"Fitz cut him off.

"It's a head" Phil finished. Skye could not believe this was what they were discussing.

"But is was sent from a SHIELD source" Skye said effectively cutting off their debate. "It's gotta be some sort of activation signal to Hydra members within SHIELD"

"Hand must be one of them" Phil said and as Skye clamped her tongue again she realized she needed rain in her emotions before she put all the people she loved and cared about in danger.

"Okay stop, stop" Fitz said, holding up his hands. "What does that mean? In SHIELD?"

"Targeting level eight agents, seizing power" Garrett listed. "Wonder how deep it goes"

"The signal is everywhere" Skye told them while rapidly, a hint of bitterness in her voice. Garrett knew exactly how deep it went she thought while trying to process all the pieces of this puzzle in her head at one time. "Deep" She finally answered, looking up at them.

"Do you know what this means?" Her father said looking at her. His hidden message getting across to her crystal clear. Her cover stays, he's pissed at his wife but their his girls and nothing is happening to them. It was Garrett who answers.

"Yeah, we're screwed" Skye's bitter laughed remained in the back of the throat.

"We can't change course, and we have no idea what's waiting for us at the Hub"

"The hub" Fitz murmured leaning against the wall, and Skye knew his only thoughts were on Simmons, and Skye held back her reassurances that she was with Tripp and Tripp wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"I say we blow a hole in the side of this puppy and parachute out, live to fight another day" Skye is almost affronted how he forgets Tripp so easily. She wills her father to see the connection but realizes he doesn't have the information to do that.

"We can't" Phil answers him while looking at Fitz.

"It's a cherry ride, I'll give you that, but let's not just hand over the keys"

"Simmons is at the hub, we have to save her" Fitz finally spoke up. Garrett finally seemed to realize what he was missing while Phil nodded.

"Oh crap yeah, Tripp's there too, I don't mind saying I don't like the odds on this one, we should let your specialist out of their cage, we can use every weapon we can get" Phil almost seemed to grimace at the idea. While Skye didn't like the idea of letting Ward out, they needed Melinda more.

"We have to save her" Skye said quietly, looking at her father, silently telling him to put his anger behind him.

"So we'll fly in there a face the music" Phil concluded. "Even if it's the Hydra theme song"

* * *

"I have orders not to do this in front of anyone else" Melinda said as her husband shoved her into the cockpit, and she opened the cabinet. He didn't need to know that that didn't include Skye, that the thumb scanner was programmed for Skye's print as well.

"They're taking out our guns, get Director Fury on the line or I'll march you out there first" Melinda silently assessed her husband's rage, trying to decide if he was more angry with her or the situation and she started to lean towards the former as she picked up the phone and scanned her thumb.

"Agent Melinda May, voice command, emergency protocol one, emergency protocol one" She repeated as the phone began to ring and she could see Phil's jaw clench.

"Hello" A man's voice came over the line that distinctly wasn't Nick Fury's.

"This is an X-1-0 straight connection to Director Fury's personal line. Where is he?" Melinda asked confused.

"Director Fury is dead" They only had time to look at each other before bullets started raining into the cockpit. Phil heard Melinda yell as he pulled her into his chest and sank down to the ground. Phil clamped his hand around her bullet wound to staunch the bleeding as they waited out the gun fire. He could feel Melinda clenching the lapels of his coat and he pressed his lips to the top of her head. Sure, he was pissed and he was confused but she is his wife. He'll be damned if anything else happened to her. Words were words and he knew he's said some that he already regrets and he'll probably say more but he still loved her with everything in him and nothing would change that.

* * *

As the bullets slowed they all made their way to the plane tunnels, Skye, Fitz, Ward and Garrett made their way to the munitions locker while Phil directed Melinda to the med pod. Phil manually slid the door shut before getting to work getting the bullet out, the rest of the team didn't need to hear their conversation.

"That was his direct line, Phil"

"So it's real, that means it's just you and me, unless there were other parties you were reporting to" Melinda lets out a huff.

"There weren't" She gets out before grunting as Phil none to gently pulls the bullet from her arm.

"Then out with it, Fury's gone, we're being shot at by our own people" He said as he grabbed the gauze to start wrapping her arm, far from being gentle.

Melinda sighed. "Fury knew you'd want me to fly the plane Phil, he ordered me to keep an eye on you"

"Looking for what?" He questioned.

"Signs of physical or mental deterioration, to keep him updated, it's that simple" Phil's eyes came back up to her's, searching, and Melinda knew what was coming next.

"Did you know about TAHITI?" He asks softly and Melinda can't answer, breaking her eye contact with him. "How could you do that to me?After all we've been through? After all the years we've spent together?"

"He said it was essential that you couldn't know!" Melinda tried to defend herself, Phil plowed on ignoring her.

"The time we spent sifting through the ashes after Bahrain? You're my wife Melinda! I thought this was a second chance when I assembled this team!"

"I assembled this team!" Melinda yelled back letting her anger get the better of her.

"What?" Phil asked searching her face.

"I evaluated what was needed and I gave the assessment to Fury and he gave you the parameters for your unit" She answered lowly.

"What was needed Melinda?" Melinda sighed before shaking her head, not wanting to tell him but having no way around it.

"Someone who could repair your body, a technician who could reprogram your brain" Melinda gritted her teeth before saying. "And a specialist to help me put you down if it needed to be done" Phil's jaw dropped open at her words and Melinda could feel her desperation shining through her voice, begging him to understand, she could feel her eyes watering.

"But I didn't do it for Fury, I did it for you! To protect you! You're my husband! I love you! You mean everything to me Phil, everything. When Skylar came back with your body... You may not believe me, but that's the truth Phil and I've had nothing to do with the clairvoyant or this Hydra threat we're up against and you know that, you know me" Phil just stared at her for awhile before turning and sliding open the door again.

"I want to believe you, and part of me already does, because it always will" He said as he went back to her arm. "But you've used that against me this whole time" And before she can even respond Ward is at the door of the med pod.

* * *

"You were right, we should have blown that plane out of the sky" Hand told Agent Jacobson in front of her.

"Are you mad? How can you be saying this?" Simmons finally exclaimed causing Hand to turn around and face her.

"Hydra won't show mercy, neither can we" Hand responded firmly.

"There is no way Coulson is Hydra! He is a good man! A friend!" Simmons exclaimed again taking more steps toward Hand. She could feel Tripp staying close behind her.

"He's a liar!" Hand raised her voice back and Simmons realed back. "Agent Blake came to me with his suspicions, that Coulson and the other level eights we're involved in some sort of conspiracy, I took that information to the highest ranking Agent on the bus, then that agent and Coulson sent Blake on an op that left him in the ICU" Through her confusion she felt Tripp take a step back.

"Coulson is the highest ra-"

"That's a lie!" Hand yelled again. She gestured toward the screen and to Simmons surprise a Skye's photo came up. She heard Tripp take a sharp breath. "Agent Skylar Mayson is a level nine SHIELD agent that has been undercover on your plane since day one!" Simmons couldn't stop her mouth from opening and closing like a fish and as she took a step back she could feel how tense Tripp was. She wondered if this startled him just as much before he spoke up.

"Agent Mayson isn't capable of what you are insinuating ma'am" Simmons rounded at him in shock. "I went to the academy with her, we've been friends for a long time, she-" Hand cut him off again.

"She may not be, but her father is, Agent Jacobson, Coulsons crimes" Simmons found herself reeling once again. Did Hand really just say Coulson was Skye's father? What the bloody hell was happening? Tripp just shook his head behind her while the agent completed his list with Hand's add in'.

"The lies add up Agent Simmons, and you can't tell me they've never kept something from you, the worst thing you can do right now is under estimate Hydra, they hide in plain sight, they earn our trust, our sympathy, they make us like them, and when you hesitate they strike, if we're to survive we must learn to strike first" While Simmon's looked thoroughly intimidated Tripp just shook his head.

"That was a great speech and all, but I've known that family a long time, and unless I see it with my own eye's, I stand by my earlier assessment, and so should you Agent Hand, you were Skye's SO, you went to the academy with her parents" And Hand didn't seem to have a remark for that.

* * *

"Damn" Ward murmured before closing the door again.

"The processing center is at the end of that hall" Skye said quietly from behind him as he nodded. She's been assessing his every move since he came out of the cage, trying to determine if he was in cahoots with Garrett. Trying not to let her emotions overrule her gut and she could feel herself failing.

"Give me your ICER" He commanded just as softly.

"What are you gonna do?" Skye asked him, looking over his face in the dark supply room.

"Pave the way for you"

"There's like a hundred guys out there" She over exaggerated and for the millionth time today she thought of how much easier this would be if she blew her cover. They could easily take the twelve men out there together. Just one of them trying was close to suicide, but her gut clenched at the thought of revealing who she truly was to him.

"Twelve, level five foot soldiers, basic armor package and there's no other way through. The others are depending on us" He told her.

"But it's suicide"

"Not if I don't die" He said looking back towards the door. "And if I do-"

"Woah, wait, slow down" Skye tried to interrupt.

"Maybe I deserve to" She scanned over the side of his face that she could see as he shook his head, trying to decipher what he was really thinking. "I killed an innocent man Skye" He all but stuttered out, and Skye could feel her emotions taking hold of the situation.

"You didn't know, you thought you were doing the right thing, you thought he was going to..." But ward cut her off quickly.

"To hurt you" He had finally turned to look at her and Skye knew without a shadow of a doubt that the sincerity in his eyes couldn't be faked. Whether for the right or wrong reasons, Ward really did care about her and it almost aggravated her when her emotions swelled up more than she thought they would as she stared into his face. She pulled her eyes away from him trying not to let her feelings mess with her head. He silently held out his hand for her ICER and she placed it in his palm before they both stood up.

Grant let out a heavy breath before he turned to look at her again.

"If we make it out of this, maybe we can grab a drink? You and me" He said almost timidly.

"Are you?" She tried to ask but Ward cut her off again.

"Do you remember in that bar in Dublin? You offered to talk? And I couldn't I needed to keep things compartmentalized"

"And having sex instead did that?" Skye asked with a raised brow. They had agreed in the morning to never speak of it again, that it was a drunken lapse of judgment from picking up the staff. Ward just smiled and shook his head a bit.

"With sex I knew I could, but talking with you, I didn't want to risk it" He said trailing off. "And I'm not suggesting that we do that, again, I just want a chance to take you up on it, to have that talk" Skye just stared at him. "Look I know I'm not that guys" He said shaking his head. "Too locked down, too boring" Skye cut him off again.

"When we make it out of this yes, let's get a drink" Skye smiled at him before he turned away to the door. Skye so desperately wanted to tell him that she could help and that's when she realized she was totally screwed when it came to her feelings for him.

She grabbed his arm softly to make him face her, and when she did she grabbed onto the top of his tac vest, pulling him down to her height before planting her lips on his. He didn't taste like alcohol this time as she ran her tongue over his lips. It felt like her stomach flipped when his tongue met hers and Skye had never felt more screwed in her life as she felt her gut twist in acknowledgement as she fleetingly thought of Bobbi. It was probably the number one rule in the handbook, don't fall for your mark. She finally pulled away and smiled at him as her gut clenched tighter.

"You said you might die right? So what the hell" She said before moving to open the door, he smiled while telling her to lock the door behind him and with one more glance her way he was gone.

* * *

Skye and Ward finally caught up to everyone as they stood watching Agents get carted off. Skye noticed them pulling John Garrett along in handcuffs and instantly felt a flood of relief when she saw her parents and the rest of her team made it through okay. As she heard Tripp yelling towards his former SO she turned to look at Ward, who had already been pulled aside by her father. She watched as he explained everything to Ward, and as she watched the complete shock covering his face she wondered if it was all fake, but as she locked eyes with him she had a hard time thinking that. She wondered if now was a good time to come clean, to reveal herself to everyone, but as Garrett was pulled right by her she noticed his eyes flick to Ward, a sinister smile covering her face. Skye's felt bile raise in her throat, this clearly was far from over.

* * *

In the all commotion Skye never got the chance to speak with Hand before she left, leaving the other woman blind to the situation in front of her. They all found themselves again sometime later. Skye was staring at her badge, her real one this time in the middle of the common area, Fitz-Simmons on the couch in front of her.

"It's all gone" Skye murmured, unable to look at anyone. Everything she had worked for, everything her family had worked for, gone. She let out a bitter laugh as she thought how only hours ago she was thinking of bitterly throwing her badge at Fury when it was all over. It really as all over now, and Skye wasn't sure she knew what to do, she was one of the highest ranking SHIELD agents left on their side and she was hiding.

"In pieces at least" Simmons responded before she let out a long sigh as Phil came down the steps. He somberly gave out commands to get the bus ready, as Skye walked away she caught the edge of her parents talking.

"You still want me here?" She picked up on every bit of timidness in her mother's voice before she caught the look on her father's face.

"You're my wife" he replied as if that explained everything and Skye thought that it kind of did. His voice was soft but his tone was still hardened and Skye desperately hoped that they would figure all of this out before it ripped them apart.

* * *

A few hours later with most of the planes firmware intact, most of the systems up and running and a lot of questioning glances from Simmons, Skye found herself in her Father's office trying to get a hold of her Aunt. After finally patching through with a secure server Skye setup years ago for her family Skye felt a wave of relief wash over her when her Aunts face covered her screen.

"Skylar Mae, I have never been happier to see you, are you mom and dad okay?" Skye nodded rapidly and clenched her teeth to keep the tears at bay. "I'm okay Mae, I'm right here, everyone is okay on this end too" Skye squinted at her, wondering if there was a double meaning to that about a certain Director they were both very close with. Skye finally relented and nodded. But her Aunt seemed to read right through her. "Who?" She asked quietly.

"I can't find Bobbi" Skye mumbled before a tear finally escaped. "I've looked everywhere, checked with the few people I know I can trust" She shook her head ashamed that she tried to find Bobbi before contacting her Aunt. "I know she can take care of herself but" Skye just let the sentence hang before shaking her head a bit. She distractedly wiped her tears away before looking back at her Aunt. "I'm really glad to see you Aunt Bia, I was worried" The nickname made Maria smile, something she felt like she sorely needed these days. "When I saw that footage" Skye stopped and shivered. "How's Steve?" And while usually the question would make her Aunt blush, Skye watched as her expression grew if not more somber.

"He's recovering at the hospital" she said softly as thoughts of him telling her to blow the ship with him still on it entered her mind. Skye just watched her Aunt eyes go far away, wondering if she should get her father before Maria followed the same gesture she just completed minutes ago, eyes clearing as she shook her head. "Where are you guys?"

"The Hub, Hand is on her way to the fridge with Jacobson to make sure it stays secure, and to find John Garrett the darkest hole imaginable" Even saying his name made Skye's mouth bitter.

"Garrett?" Maria's curiosity now peaked.

"He was the self proclaimed clairvoyant, who was also Hydra, hail hydra" She bit out sarcastically.

"And Ward?" And before Skye could even cover her facial expression her Aunt was on her, and Skye admitted to herself, with a family full of spies it was a wonder she got away with anything. "What did you do?"

"I slept with him"

"Skylar Mae!" Her Aunts voice raised significantly and Skye found herself quickly babbling to defend herself.

"Not recently! It was after the berserker staff incident, we both got drunk and decided to never speak of it again" She tried to explain.

"But?" Maria edged her, her tone still hard.

"He caught feelings" Skye said, and before she could continue Maria jumped right back in.

"Your face tells me you did too" Skye rolls her eyes. "What about Bobbi?" Skye's eyes snapped to her Aunts so quickly Maria thought they could fly out of her head. Skye's expression turned cold, her eyes unforgiving.

"Bobbi is married" Skye bit out between her teeth and Maria knew she shouldn't have commented at all. They both knew Bobbi was now divorced but Skye and Bobbi's relationship had always been undefined and a touchy subject. Maria waited patiently for Skye to huff, letting out a long sigh as she seemingly disregarded everything that was just said and moved on.

"I don't know what I feel, I thought he was going to die today, I kissed him, and I don't know why, and now every single alarm bell is going off in my head and I feel like an idiot, but when Dad told him Garrett was Hydra, it didn't look like something you could fake but now he's on the plane taking him to the fridge and-"

"And you haven't told him who you really are" Maria finished for her, and Skye just shook her head. "You have to go with your gut Mae, even if your heart wants it to be wrong" Maria told her, her tone softening as she looked at her niece. Skye just nodded. "How are your parents?" This time Skye's sigh was longer.

"He found out about the encrypted line" Maria broke eye contact to seemingly look at the floor. "It was the worst timing possible, she shot her" That had Maria's gaze moving back to hers, mouth slightly open. "With an ICER, but he had been aiming a real gun at her beforehand. That's the same face I made when it happened, just about blew my cover yelling at him, told him he obviously lost his damn mind" Maria smirked a bit at that. "I've never seen them like this, not even after Bahrain when they both just cohabited and Mom won't let me tell him anything. Seeing him dead, that week we thought he was gone, we had every right to keep that from him" Skye says sternly before her eyes soften. "He'll forgive her right? He'll forgive us?" Skye asks her Aunt, her face reminding Maria so much of little Skylar Mae, four years old, tears on her cheeks after breaking one of her Dad's collectibles, hoping he would forgive her. Maria let a small smile cover her lips.

"He'd forgive you the world Skylar Mae, and your parents have been through a lot, they'll get through this too" Maria answered softly, causing her niece to nod before she heard footsteps on the stairs, ones that didn't belong to either of her parents.

"I have to go Aunt Bia" she said softly "I'll talk to you soon"

"Skylar Mae stay safe, I love you"

"I love you too" She said, ending the transmission just before Simmons rounded the corner of the office door.

Simmons paused in the doorway to seemingly appraise the door frame before leaning on it. Her eyebrows knitted together as she crossed her arms over her chest. Before Skye could utter a greeting Simmons spoke.

"Agent Skylar Mayson" She said matter of factly. Skye stood silently,not frozen but trying to assess her options. Skye never thought of how she would explain all of this. She cared about Jemma, and she cared about Fitz, the last thing she wanted was for them to think all of it was a lie. In Skye's silence Jemma forged on. "Or is that even your real name?" While Jemma's voice was still soft Skye could hear the demand in her tone. A hard look came over Simmons as she seemed to reappraise Skye and Skye could see her chastising herself for not noticing things. Skye's build, most likely the way she held herself, and all the scars documented in her medical file. Skye finally decided she couldn't take that look anymore and spoke.

"Skylar Mae Qiaolian Coulson" Simmons choked as she seemingly made all the necessary connections.

"Wait, Hand said Coulson was your father, your middle name that's the same as, wait does that mean?" Skye had never seen Simmons so confused as she looked over Skye again.

"Agent May is my mother, yes" Simmons eyes widen briefly before they narrowed as assessed Skye all over again. She clearly hadn't anticipated that variable.

"But she's so, and you're so... Well, you do look quite like her" Skye didn't know if the bark of laughter she let out was from the scientists clearly flustered state or the assessment of her looks.

"Most people would take that as a complement, being told they look like their mother and most of the time I do, but it's almost borderline offensive, it's like saying all Chinese women look the same" Skye huffed and she watched as the joke (one she realized a second later she really only shared with her mother) fell flat as Simmons just looked even more confused.

If most important, Jemma Simmons had been her friend, she and Fitz had been the most welcoming to her on this plane. She gestured for Simmons to sit down as she decided Jemma would get nothing more than full disclosure. She told Simmons everything, her mom and dad finding her, the search for her birth parents and how she came into SHIELD. She told her about her schooling, how a lot of the computer tech they had in the lab was of her design.

She answered every single question Simmons had with open honesty and when Simmons finally let the room with a promise to keep all the information to herself until Skye was quite sure what was going on, Skye felt as if a weight had lifted off her chest. All of those feelings suddenly faded as she thought of Ward but she didn't have much time to think about it before her father appeared, rambling about some General on his way and how they needed to leave quickly.

* * *

 **AN:Hey guys! I'm sorry again for the wait! But hopefully the length of this one makes up for it? Maybe? I'll admit when I said I had some longer chapters in the works I didn't think I meant this long. I wanted to do from episode 16 to the end of season 1 but halfway though realized it was far too long for one chapter so you'll be getting it in pieces! Hope you all like it and thank you for reading! Your feedback is very much welcomed and appreciated!**

 **ps- Space boyfriend, say what!? Don't even get me started on Philinda!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Well Needed Down Time**

 _(Takes place in the 6 months between seasons 2 &3)_

She wrangled them both at around noon time, telling them she was tired of their moping before handing them both their lunch and forcing them into one of the nondescript SUV's. Skye watched Bobbi in the rear-view at a red light as the blonde ate her peanut butter and fluff sandwich in silence. When the light turned green again Skye focused back on the road as she felt Bobbi reach forward, grabbing the bottle of water in the center console silently and twisting it open before leaving it a single turn tight and putting it back in its place.

Skye's eyes flickered to the mirror again to give her girlfriend an appreciative look only to receive a wink in return. A few minutes later Skye watched her father from the corner of her eye as he picked up the bottle, removing the already open cap easily with his gloved prosthetic. It had been five months since he lost his arm and has spend only three of them with a prosthetic, this one being his second prototype. He was doing as well as one could imagine Skye thought, still finding trouble with fine motor skills and grip because he simply couldn't _feel_ it.

They were in the car for almost an hour before Phil really started to figure out where they were headed, but even then he still only had a general idea. They were headed home, or somewhere close to it but Skye kept denying answers to all they're inquiries, stating they were going to do something fun and there was to be no moping for the rest of the afternoon. That earned her a sharp glare from the back seat and a poke to the ribs. Bobbi had been healing extremely well over the last five months, though none of the improvements seemed to please the blonde who still wasn't cleared for anything other than the lab. After checking with both their doctors, Skye was excited to give them both something they _could_ do. Though Skye had a feeling her father would be enjoying a particular persons company rather than the actual activity.

Realization dawned on Phil when they pulled into an all too familiar parking lot. Skye had spent a lot of time here as a child, either in the building itself or waiting out front for her parents to pick her up.

"Skylar, are you sure thi-"

"Yes" She said quickly cutting off his question as she parked the car. She got out quickly and walked around the back, grabbing the sweaters she had grabbed for the both of them and herself before shutting and locking the car. She handed them both their sweaters before taking Bobbi's hand and leading the two of them towards the entrance. They walked in and a sudden rush of cold hit Bobbi making her quickly realize where they were.

"You brought us to an ice rink" Her tone holding half accusation half curiousness. A young man around their age approached them and before Skye could answer he began speaking.

"Mr. Coulson, Skye, it's good to see you again" He greeted before Bobbi found her hand being let go of as Skye was pulled into a hug. He let go of her to shake Phil's hand easily, before he looked back at Skye grinning almost conspiratorially. "She's already in the practice rink" He shot both Phil and Bobbi a flashy grin before heading into the glass doors that held a large rink full of young boys playing hockey.

Skye took Bobbi's hand and tugged again, bringing them past another huge rink, this one also hosting hockey players, these ones much larger and older men. They finally made it to the last rink, this one smaller in size and only hosting a single person. Skye opened the door and ushered them both through watching her dad with an amused smirk. The small woman in the middle of the ice seemed to pay them no mind as she effortlessly moved into a spin. Phil glanced at his daughter quickly with a rather large smile on his face before her watched the woman sinking low into a sit spin.

Skye lead Bobbi over to the wooden benches that held a rather large black duffle bag as Phil watched the woman rise out of her spin, digging her toepick into the ice to stop her momentum and look at her husband. Melinda had been with her father for two months, helping him get better after a car accident. She hadn't seen her husband in just as long, him being too busy to have time to get away like Skye had. They had to settle for phone calls and video chats and while Melinda knew her husband could do just fine without her she knew her absence was beginning to take its toll on him.

"About time you got here" She commented before gliding to the entrance of the rink to meet Phil, planting a gentle kiss on his lips.

"We're early" Skye's tone was exasperated as she started to pull out a pair of skates from the bag, not even looking up as her parents made their way towards the two younger women. Bobbi felt utter confusion and wonder engulf her but kept herself silent, awaiting her girlfriends instructions, trying desperately not to worry if she'd even be capable of the task her girlfriend was besetting upon her.

Skye handed her father a pair of large hockey skates and a pair of thick socks as he walked past her to sit on the bench and gestured for Bobbi to do the same. While Melinda kneeled in front of her husband to help with his laces. Skye pulled two more pairs of skates from the duffle and made her way down the bench and in front of Bobbi. She had two pairs of skates by the laces in her hand, one pair very much matching the ones she had handed to her father, and the other pair a bright blue but looking exactly like the pristine white ones that adorned May's feet.

"Have you ever skated before?" Skye asked simultaneously wondering why she and Bobbi had never done this before.

"Not since I was a kid" Skye found it hard to take Bobbi's smile at face value, her blue eyes showing every bit of the nervousness she was trying to hide. Skye seemed to regard both pairs of skates before Melinda spoke up.

"Figure, she'll need the toepick" The instruction was quite as she pulled Phil to his feet and Skye nodded, dropping to her knee's in front of her girlfriend as Phil and Melinda made their way to the ice. Bobbi watched them as Skye removed her shoes and put the thick socks over her existing ones before sliding on the blue skates and tying them. She watched as Melinda glided out quickly then turned to skate backwards as she watched husband who pushed himself out. She watched as Phil took a few practiced strides before grinning up at his wife and taking off after her with a skilled ease. Melinda was laughing quietly as her husband came up next to her, grabbing her hand as they started circling the rink together.

"Too tight?" Skye's question drew Bobbi's attention back to the woman in front of her, she shook her head no and watched as Skye moved to sit on the bench next to her.

"Ice skating?" Bobbie asked as Skye pulled out her own air of socks and put on the hockey skates beginning to lace them. She let the sound of Skye's low chuckle sooth her.

"Mom figure skated when she was younger, before she took up martial arts" Skye finished one skate and moved to the next.

"Your Dad?" Skye chuckled again.

"It's impossible to grow up in Wisconsin and not play hockey" Was Skye's explanation as she finished up with her skates and looked up at her girlfriend. Resting her hand on the top of Bobbi's thigh she squeezed.

"And you?"

"Gram signed me up for figure skating lessons when I was seven" Skye told her as she pushed herself up to stand and turned to face Bobbi. "Two weeks in I saw the peewee hockey team playing and the rest was history" This time Bobbi chuckled as Skye pulled her to her feet, steadying her when she wobbled a bit. Skye took her hand and led her to the entrance of the rink. "I can do a bit of both, thanks to my parents, hence the skates, so you're in good hands but Babs" Skye reached up and held Bobbi's face between her hands gently, thumbs stroking her cheeks. "I wouldn't have brought you to do this if I wasn't one hundred percent certain you would be able to" Skye kissed Bobbi's forehead as she nodded.

Skye let go of Bobbi and glided out onto the ice taking a few strides much like her father had before gaining her bearings and making her way back to Bobbi and holding out her hand. Bobbi took it and Skye eased her out, effortlessly skating backwards and pulling Bobbi to the center of the ice. She helped Bobbi balance herself before helping her relearn the basic movements of being on the ice. It didn't take long before they were circling the rink, holding hands much like Melinda and Phil were doing. As they came closer to Melinda and Phil, Skye squeezed Bobbi's hand before releasing it and taking off towards her parents, bumping her father's shoulder as she passed.

"Race yah!" Phil took off after his daughter faster than Bobbi thought possible as laughs started echoing through the rink as the pair started yelling to each other. Melinda easily made her way over to Bobbi linking her arm with the taller woman as they began skating again, watching Phil and Skye make quick laps around the rink as they chased each other.

"They've missed you" Bobbi said quietly, a smile on her face from watching her girlfriend so carefree.

"I've missed you guys too" Melinda responded and Bobbi sure as _hell_ didn't miss that she was included in the statement.

"How is Mr. May doing?"

" _Bàba_ is doing well, up and moving with the help of a walker" Melinda said, stressing the use of the name they had been trying to get Bobbi to use instead of the formalities. She could still remember the blondes confusion of the name and having to explain how Skye had picked up the name at a young age from Melinda and refused to call her grandfather anything but. She had done the same with Melinda's mother, the memory of a baby Skye toddling around yelling 'Gram! Gram! Gram!' oblivious to her grandmothers clearly unamused look, still brought a smile to her face.

It made Bobbi smile thinking of how much they had been integrating her into their small family just because of how much she meant to Skye. They could have easily shunned her for her past acts, but in the last few months as she made it clear to Skye she still wanted everything with her, as they repaired their relationship, Melinda and Phil took a much stronger liking to her. They took the time to get to know her and have a relationship with her outside of work, Phil even doing his physical therapy along with hers. All of that meant far more to Bobbi that was prepared to admit.

Her smile fell from her face instantly as she watched Phil collide with Skye, making her let out a small gasp. Melinda chuckled as she watched her husband lift Skye off of her feet, spinning quickly while his daughter squealed, but neither fell.

"They do this all the time" Her statement was softer than Bobbi was used to she watched father and daughter disentangle themselves, laughing hard and puffing out gusts of air. She watched as Skye made her way around the rink again, passing the two women and winking at her girlfriend as she made her way by before moving into the center of the rink effortlessly switching to skating backwards as Phil made his way too them.

"Little showoff" He muttered before she heard Skye's skate hit the ice hard and she twisted in the air. After she landed she moved around a few more times before executing the same spin they saw may do on their way in. By now both parents were chuckling at their daughter, or Bobbi realized they could have been laughing at her. Her mouth a little agape as she watched her girlfriend move fluidly over the ice. Bobbie felt an overwhelming urge of gratefulness wash over her as she skated over to Skye, both women slowed to a stop with rather large smiles on their faces. Bobbi moved right into Skye's space, grabbing her arms as she moved into kiss her, feeling Skye's cold hands come back up to hold her face again.

"Thank you for this, porcupine" Bobbi said as she pulled away, keeping her face close as she murmured her thanks. "You always know just what I need, I don't know what I would do without you" Skye's smile just grew before she moved in to kiss her again.

"Come on lovebirds, we still have this rink for an hour" Melinda called out as she and Phil skated past them, interrupting the young women before the kiss could get any more hated. Skye just laughed as they broke apart and rolled her eyes, pecking Bobbi's lips one last time before taking her hand as they started to skate around the rink again.

* * *

 **AN: I clearly couldn't help myself here, I blame all the ice skating AU & gifs on tumblr. I'm finding myself having a serious problem in liking Rosalind, it's breaking my Philinda heart but I can't get enough of Constance Zimmer. So sue me! Anyway, hope you all enjoyed! This is about as far as I've gotten in whether or not I want to broach season 3 with this story so I'm not making any promises. I still have many chapters I'm still working on so please bear with me with the wait. As always, thank you for favoriting and following and I love absolutely every review! Happy reading!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Isabelle Hartley**

 _(Episode tag 2x02 Heavy is the Head)_

"I just wanted to report that Mack and Tripp are working on cloaking so I'm free if you want me back in the field" Skye said as soon as her father opened the door to his office.

"That won't be necessary, May's still out there" He told her, still standing in the doorway, neither moving to allow her in, or forcing her away.

"What about Hartley and Idaho?" Skye questioned, remembering his lack of comment from hours ago. Phil finally makes his way back into his office, turning his back to her and that's all answer she needs. He steps back behind his desk, flipping through files and refusing to meet her gaze.

"They're not out there are they?" It takes every ounce of strength she has not to let her voice crack at the question, her face remaining impassive as she feels her throat tighten. Phil's eyes meet hers momentarily before going back to his files.

"It was that thing wasn't it? The object?"

"It was Creel" Her father tells her and that doesn't make Skye feel any better about her mother being out there alone, she tells him as much.

"Sir, I need to get back out there and help May take him down" She insists.

"No"

"She's my partner, I'm not hiding behind a cover anymore, I'm a trained specialist and I can handle myself" She tries again.

"That's not what this is about"

"What is it about?" Skye asks, starting to lose her cool. "The object? The symbols? Because I can't help if I don't know what's going on" Skye nearly shouts at him, tired of being held at a arms distance for months. Phil comes around his desk to stand in front of her.

"If you'd like to help, go down to the bunks and pack up Hartley's things" Skye instantly recoils as if she's been slapped, blinking rapidly as her eyes begin to water. Phil realizes his mistake as soon as the words are out of his mouth. "Skylar, I'm sor-" He stops mid sentence when she raises her hand to halt him. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath in to calm herself. She takes a few seconds before looking back up at him.

"I know you're the boss now and you're trying to compartmentalize everything, but take it from someone who learned the hard way... It's not healthy and it doesn't work. I understand that this is a new role for you, for all of us, but you need to utilize what you have" When Phil made a face as if to argue that, Skye explained further. "I've been at this base all winter, dad. When I could be out recruiting right along with you, getting us tech from my other contacts and data from old SHIELD data drops. Don't even get me started on Theta Protocol" When her father's jaw dropped she chuckled darkly. "You weren't the only one Fury trusted. But you keep doing what you're doing Sir, you should try to loosen up though, try yoga or something" Her voice laced with snark as she walked to the door.

"Skylar"

"I'll pack up Hartley's bunk" She said, efficiently cutting him off. She spared him no glance back as she made her way out of the office, swinging the door shut hard as she did so.

* * *

Skye took the framed picture of Izzy and Jane off the night stand and just stared at it, her finger tracing the smile captured on her friends face. She heard Hunter enter but didn't look up until he spoke.

"Izzy's sister, Jane" He explained as he leaned in the doorway, Skye just looked up at him surprised, never sure how to act around him. At Skye's lack of response he moved into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Her favorite person in the world, after me of course" He told her, making Skye smile as she thought of just how much of an argument Vic would have put up at that statement.

"Looks like they liked each other" Skye said, still smiling at the picture.

"Yeah, those two... When they got together was a lot of laughs and bottles of wine" Skye's smile fell just a bit, remembering the girls nights they used to have, herself, Vic and Izzy and Bobbi, back when Bobbi and Skye were still rookies and there hadn't been tension between Skye and Vic. She finally looked back up at Hunter but he wasn't looking at her as he continued talking. "Izzy was good when it came to family" He said, and Skye could only nod in agreement, her throat tightening again. "Which is why I'm taking this" He said reaching into the trunk for the necklace she had just put in there, and Skye couldn't even make her mouth open to object.

"Belonged to her Mum, died of breast cancer about five years back, Jane has it now too" He told her.

"That's awful" Skye comments, Izzy had never told her that Jane was diagnosed too. Then again, Izzy had been having a hard time just looking at her since she got to the Playground. Not that Skye blames her, she would probably react the same way after receiving news of her wife's death.

"Yeah" Hunter draws out before looking back up at her. "Life can be a mean drunk that way, never knows when to stop punching" He tells her as if that isn't something she already knows. It shocks her how little Hunter knows about her when she knows so much about him.

"How'd you guys meet?" Skye asks, already sensing the answer.

"Through my psychotic ex wife" He tells her and Skye has to force herself to laugh, raising her eyebrows and biting her tongue at the thought of Bobbi. "Those two were good friends back in the day" Skye disagrees, they never stopped being good friends, Bobbi and Izzy were quite a pair even when they didn't get to see each other often.

"I'm really sorry" Skye tells him, realizing he's lost a great friend, just as she has. "It's tough to lose people you care about"

"Secret to that? Don't get attached" That actually makes Skye chuckle.

"Tried that, didn't work" She tells him. "For you either" She says and when he makes a face she gestures to Izzy's necklace still laying in his hand. He laughs.

"You know you remind me a bit of Izzy" He tells her, a smile on his face. "Raw but sharp, you got skills" This makes Skye laugh again as she reaches over to Izzy's nightstand drawer. She opens it and pulls out a few photos.

"I would hope so, considering she helped train me" She says. She watches as Hunters mouth drops open before she hands him the photo. It's one that was taken at Skye and Bobbi's specialist graduation. In the picture she was sandwiched between Izzy and Vic, all in matching SHIELD suits. Hunter looked up at her, face reminiscent of a fish.

"Vic was my SO" Skye told him. "I spent a lot of time with the both of them"

"My apologies, training under the dragon lady couldn't have been easy" Skye laughed as Hunter shivered at the name, thinking Vic would love that she still inspired fear from beyond the grave. "Iz hadn't talked about her much as of late, I figured she went Hydra" Skye's frown only seemed to deepen at that as she looked down at the picture in her hands of the two women on their wedding day.

"She was killed" Skye said softly as she looked back up at Hunter. "By Hydra, I was the one that called Izzy with the news" Skye left out the part that her murderer currently resided in their basement. "She hadn't been talking to me much at all as of late either" She sighed.

"She didn't blame you" Hunter told her instantly and Skye held back a sneer at him, as if he knew anything. Skye finally let out another dark chuckle.

"I guess now we'll never know, life's a mean drunk that way" She said looking up at him again and he nodded. They both seemed to recognize that the conversation was definitely over and Hunter stood making his way to the door.

"If you hear anything about Creel, let me know" He said before leaving the room.

Skye looked down at the pictures in her hands, placing the wedding photo on the top of Izzy's belongings in her trunk. She chuckled at the next one, just of her and Bobbi, holding their new badges out to the camera, aviator shades on their serious faces. The next one making her eyes water as she looked at both her and Bobbi's faces pressed cheek to cheek smiles completely taking over both of their expressions, eyes glittering.

The tears finally dripped out as she looked at the last one, her and Bobbi sandwiched between both of their SO's, a smile on everyone's face, which was rare for Vic. Skye shook her head thinking of all the lives lost so far and at what cost. She wiped her tears quickly letting out a sigh before standing. She slipped the three pictures in her back pocket, along with the one Hunter left on the bed. She looked around the room once more seemingly having everything she closed the lid of the trunk and locked it. She gave the room one last look before she picked up the trunk and made her way out of the room, fleetingly thinking of Bobbi again and all the memories she shared with the three women.

* * *

 **AN: Guys! I'm sorry for the wait! I truly am! Writers block and a broken computer should not be mixed! I have a few chapters for you guys though so hopefully I'm forgiven! Reviews are always welcome and THANK YOU for reading! Enjoy!**


	14. Chapter 14

**At What Cost?**

 _(Episode Tag 1x19 "Nothing Personal" and 1x20 "Ragtag")_

"I can't take this test, Agent Koenig" After he had closed the door Koenig had a gun out faster than Skye thought he would, aimed at her chest. Before he could say anything Skye continued. "I'm on a cover, directly from Fury, you don't have the clearance level to give me this test" She had raised her hands to try to assure the other agent that she wasn't a threat.

"Fury is dead" Skye just scoffed when he said that. She would believe that when she see's it. Koenig seemed to reassess Skye then, looking her up and down. "How was the ride in from Winnipeg?" Skye studied him sharply in return, the last words out of his mouth a call sign she wasn't expecting. If Koenig was already following Eclipse protocol she knew Fury was still alive and that she could trust Koenig, her next words came out with trained ease.

"Rained the whole night through" Koenig lowered his gun quickly and he gestured her to get in the chair. Skye eyed it skeptically before moving to the chair, she would have a word with Fury about who he gives walk on passes to later. Just because Koenig had Fury's seal of approval didn't necessarily mean Skye wanted him to know the information, people kept secrets for a reason. After the machine was set up and she was basically strapped to the chair Koenig moved behind the computer and he started asking questions.

"Were gonna start with some easy questions to establish a baseline, what is your full name?"

"Skylar Mae Qiailon Coulson" Koenig's eyes snapped up to hers quickly. "I go by Agent Skylar Mayson, level nine computer data and network cryptologist, trained field specialist" Koenig didn't bother to hide his shock. He just nodded, before Skye watched him pull up what she would assume was her actual personnel file.

"Eye color?"

"Brown"

"Have you ever been married?" When he asked this Skye couldn't resist a small chuckle, mostly because she then realized how funny her mother's face would have been when asked that question.

"No"

"Please list your immediate family"

"My parents, grandparents and Aunt" She said quietly, the lines on the screen never waivered but Koenig was looking at her sharply again and she knew it was because that information wasn't in her file either. Her mothers wouldn't have been either. She watched his facial expression as he took a moment to piece all of his information together. From the answers he had received from her mother and herself she assumed he could put all of the information together. Whether he did or not he didn't voice anything, just continued his questioning.

"What's the difference between an egg and a rock?"

"One is food, the other not" Her tone was slightly amused and the face Koenig gave led her to believe the entire team had been difficult with that question. She could only imagine Fitz-Simmons response.

"Ever heard of Project Insight?"

"Yes"

"Elaborate"

"My knowledge was limited. I write security protocols for all SHIELD firmware, Fury brought me on board in the beginning to do the basics, I also wrote the protocols Maria Hill used a few days ago to blow them out of the sky" Koenig nodded before continuing, Skye was surprised he didn't ask how she knew that.

"Ever had any contact with Alexander Pierce?"

"Yes, I've met him a few times, always thought he was an ass, now I guess I know why" Koenig regarded her for a moment after that, most likely curious on just who she was, then continued his questioning, seemingly disregarding the thought again.

"You wash up on a deserted island alone, sitting on the sand is a box, what is in that box?" Skye found herself actually thinking about that. The first thing she could think of was almost embarrassing to say, especially with all of her training but she already told him her real name, so what was the point of hiding who she had working friendships with too?

"The suit Tony Stark made me for my twenty-third birthday" It was hilarious to watch Koenig's face turn to one of jealousy as he realized that was the truth. He shook his head and chuckled before continuing.

"SHIELD no longer exists, the agency has been labeled a terrorist organization, so why are you here?"

"This is my family, I would never leave them, we may be able to protect ourselves, but who's going to protect everyone else?"

"Congratulations Agent Mayson, let's go get you a lanyard" He smiled as he came around to unhook the machine. As Skye got up, she held his gaze.

"That information can never, under any circumstances leave this room" Skye started but Koenig waved a hand seemingly cutting her off.

"The threats I received from Agent May were crystal clear Agent Mayson, I'll tell you the same thing I told her, I was given this job for a reason, these secrets are safe with me" He said as he made her lanyard. Skye nodded. He paused before he handed it to her, "This lanyard is made for your cover at anytime using it, enter your Eclipse protocol code and you'll have all the level nine access you could need" He handed it to her and Skye just nodded again and made her way to the door. "What you did with your last name?" He said and Skye paused to look at him. "Very clever" Skye just chuckled again and nodded, not many people caught it but she had always thought it was pretty clever too. She held up her lanyard.

"Thank you, Agent Koenig" She said before exiting the room, only to meet Ward on the other side.

* * *

She found Tripp before they were set to move out, leaving herself, her mother, Koenig, and Ward at the base themselves. She pulled him into a side room quickly shutting the door behind herself.

"I need you to watch him" Skye said, leaving all pleasantries behind, they didn't have much time in here. Tripp nodded.

"Who is this guy?"

"It's more the woman he's after, her name is Audrey Nathan. She's a friend of my parents, a cellist, that's how she and my mom met, way before I came along. She was my Mom's best friend, after Bahrain she helped out a lot, came and stayed with her while Dad and I were gone. Her and dad got really close as well. She means a lot to my parents, they feel like it's their fault Daniels fixated on her" Tripp nodded along, knowing there wasn't enough time for an in depth explanation. "I just need you to keep an eye on him, he's being reckless"

"Why isn't your Mom-" Skye cut off his question.

"He doesn't trust her right now, I don't have time-"

"I'll watch him" Tripp tells her quickly. He regards her for a minute, watching over her face. "You know, you could be one of the highest ranking agents left, you could just order-"

"I can't and you know it" Skye cut him off again, Tripp just nodded.

"You know a lot more than everyone thinks you do, don't you?" Skye's only response was to raise a single eyebrow at her friend. The smile fell from his face while he regarded his friend before asking. "Have you gotten in contact with Bobbi?" Skye face instantly fell too before she shook her head. Tripp wrapped his arms around her tightly pulling her into his chest. "We'll find her, when we're done here, if you haven't heard from her, you and me, we'll find her" Skye just nodded into his shoulder, she had almost forgotten how good a hug could feel before giving him a final squeeze and pulling away.

"Go easy of Fitz" She tells him as she moves to the door. Tripp had the audacity to look confused.

"He's in love with Simmons" When Tripp's face turned to one of even more confusion Skye just laughs at him. "Don't act like you haven't been going all charm school on her" She said before leaving the room.

* * *

Skye felt an overwhelming sense of panic swelling in her chest, she was heaving, breath catching in her throat. He said her mother was gone but why didn't she say goodbye? She wouldn't just _not_ say goodbye. He passed the damn lie detector, he _passed,_ damnit! Eric Koenig hung in the rafters above her, she had been wrong, _so wrong_. This was her fault. She should have seen it but she got so caught up in her own emotions. Koenig's dead, her mom very well could be too, this meant Garrett was still alive and Hand... Oh, Vic. Skye could hear Ward calling for her and caught her breath quickly, she had one option left and that was to go along with whatever he wanted. Damnit, this was all her fault!

* * *

"We need to talk, Agent Hill" Melinda smirked as the younger woman jumped. She apparently still had the drop on her former rookie.

"Mel" She huffed, lowering her gun. "A phone call would have done it" She said before wrapping Melinda into a quick hug. "I appreciate the discretion" She said as she tucked her gun behind her back again.

"I thought you'd like the night off, they must hate that you're going to work for Stark"

"Most of the intelligence community would like to drop me into a dark hole but even they can't mess with Tony's army of lawyers, so for now we're privatizing global security, wanna join?"

"Phil needs help" Melinda told her and the younger woman's face instantly dropped. "And he won't take it from me anymore"

"Where is he?"

"Providence base and he's got enough to worry about without obsessing over TAHITI and who covered it up"

"You mean besides us?" Maria huffed. "How much does he know?"

"Enough, that they used alien biology, rewrote his memories and that Fury did it under someone else's direction and I want to know who that was"

"You're afraid it was Alexander Pierce"

"Secretary Pierce was the man in charge, the only person Fury took orders from and he was Hydra! Having a man like that design your husbands brain, you can understand my concern"

"Fury took his ques from pretty high up, that much I know, but when I asked him who it was Fury said that he buried that intel when he decided not to bury Phil"

"Maria, this is not the time to wax poetic" Melinda said exasperated.

"Those were his words not mine, you know the man, sometimes he spoke in riddles" Maria answered.

"I guess I'll have to solve it then" Maria only hummed in response. "Unless you want to ask Fury for-"

"Fury's dead" Maria cut her off as they heard sirens approaching.

"I'll believe it when I see it" Melinda answered.

"Mae?" Maria asked quickly as they heard cars stopping.

"She's fine" Melinda said as Maria started backing up pulling out her gun and looking at her watch.

"Stay safe, Melinda"

"You too, little sister" Melinda said making Maria roll her eyes as she turned around.

"Three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, if you were my agents you wouldn't be for long" Melinda heard Maria say as she left, making her quietly chuckle and shake her head. She doubted speaking to them like that would make them any more susceptible to the former assistant director.

* * *

Phil didn't know whether he felt relief or an overwhelming sense of irritation when his sister rounded the corner of the base entrance. As she stood here looking at him while Talbot took his agents to question them he was leaning more towards irritation.

"Im offering you a life line here Phil, don't thank me just take it and we'll be on our way"

"I don't see how thanks are in order, considering how you just sold me out and lead the U.S. military right to Fury's secret base" Phil answered, yeah, he was definitely going with irritated.

"No Phil, you lead us straight to Fury's secret base as part of the deal you made" Maria told him, eyes wide, trying to force him not to fight her on this.

"You can't be serious-"

"You and I are going to turn over these tunnels to the U.S. government who will be ever so grateful to take possession of an enemy stronghold in their backyard"

"What about my team? What about Skylar?"

"Tony and I already took care of everything pertaining to Mae, as for the rest of your team they're gonna have to go through the system, interrogation-"

"Not gonna happen"

"Look, talk to Talbot, cough up some meaningless intel about this place, nothing significant of course, nothing about SHIELD's other installations-" Phil huffed out a laugh, mouth open with no trace of humor as he cut her off.

"You're still protecting your secrets, is there anything specific you think I'll talk about? TAHITI maybe?" Maria just gave him a leveling stare.

"Phil" She tried

"I'm a liability, is that it?"

"Grow up Phil! Of course you're a liability! Everyone is right now! But I know you'll do the right thing" Phil's face instantly darkened.

"The right thing? That's funny coming from you, after everything you and Fury have done"

"Look, it was for-" Maria was trying to reason but Phil cut her off.

"For my own good I know, I get it, you should have been straight with me" He said angrily, making Maria swallow hard. "I'm your god damn brother, I would have kept your secrets like the good little soldier, I always have but instead you were worried about me when you should have been worried about anyone else!" Phil knew that was cruel, round aboutly blaming her for this, and he watched as Maria's face hardened, her eyes on the edge of glassy at her brothers assessment. She nodded.

"You're right, we should have seen Hydra coming, that's why we had Skye on your plane, but after DC they don't stand a chance-"

"John Garrett does"

"Garrett? I heard Ward took care of him?" Maria questioned dumbly.

"Ward's his secret weapon, he killed Victoria Hand then raided the fridge and now he's got Skye which is where we were headed, until you so rudely interrupted, to sweeten your deal!" Phil nearly exploded at her, Maria's face instantly fell. She opened her mouth and closed it numerous times.

"He has Skye? You couldn't have lead with that?" She bites out as General Talbot makes his way back into the room.

* * *

"You think I had a part in that?" Ward asked, taking a step closer to her. Skye wiggled her hand in the cuff, she could definitely dislocate her thumb to get out of it. "That I would let that happen to you? You know how I feel about you Skye" He said taking a step closer.

"So even though you've been lying, to everyone, about everything, you're saying your feelings for me-"

"They're real Skye, they always have been" He cut her off, putting both hands on her face. Skye felt the overwhelming urge to vomit in the back of her throat as she pressed her thumb to the railing. Skye's face suddenly went stone cold as she dropped her mask, becoming every bit of the SHIELD agent she is. She could see Wards surprise in at her change in demeanor.

"How could they be real? You don't even know who I am" She taunted him before a loud crack echoed through the loading bay as Skye's thumb dislocated. She used the little surprise she had to reach up grabbing Wards face, pulling in down and into her knee with a sickening crack as she broke his nose. Ward stumbled back gripping his face. Skye used the moment to reset her thumb before following him back, giving Ward only seconds to guard himself from her onslaught of hits. He was too slow, in no way expecting Skye to fight like she did and she almost had him. That is until Mike came in throwing both of them apart.

"Times up" He said gruffly. Skye was instantly on her feet, trying to appeal to him.

"Mike, I know you don't want to hurt me"

"You're right, I don't, but I'll hurt him" And before Ward could do anything a metal disk was attached to his chest and he was falling to the ground again clutching his chest in agony.

"What, what did you do to him?" She found herself asking, still rooted in the same spot.

"Stopped his heart" He told her matter of factly.

"His heart" She said, but it came out more like a strangled whisper, her eyes wide with shock.

"He's having a heart attack" Mike said showing her his arm. "I can restart it or not, it's your choice" He told her as Ward tried to say her name.

"You think I don't want to watch him suffer?" She asked hotly, her brain was screaming to let him die but she couldn't seem to make the rest of herself follow the order.

"Not suffer, die" Mike told her menacingly. Skye instantly knew that she couldn't do it. She would never be able to do it. That would bring her right down to Garrett's level and she while she has done many things she didn't necessarily agree with in her years as a SHIELD agent this wouldn't be one of them. She wasn't proud of it.

They would get the drive but the least she could do was leave them a little present on the way. She could feel the heavy weight of self loathing fill her chest as they moved her to the cage, angry with herself for not being able to make the hard call. She felt something else too, a strange sense of pity towards Ward. He dedicated his entire being to someone who would risk his life at the drop of his hat, just to get something he wanted. She didn't get to think on it long before the door to the cage burst open and her Dad stood with a look of relief on his face as his eyes met hers. She was immediately out of her chair hugging him tight.

* * *

Neither of them really wanted to talk about the bullet holes that their precious Lola was now peppered in either.

* * *

Maria left her brothers room and made her way to her nieces, ignoring the looks she received as the other members of the team watched her. She entered quickly without knocking to find Skye sitting on the edge of the bed, staring down at the badge she gripped tightly in her hands. She didn't even spare a glance up before she spoke.

"This is all my fault" The words came out mashed together and barely understandable, it was quite clear that she had been crying.

"Skylar Mae" Maria's voice was soft and held a distinct level of disapproval. Skye finally looked up at her with red eyes and tear stained cheeks. Maria moved to sit next to her niece, wrapping both arms around her and pulling her into her chest while Skye started sobbing in earnest. "You can't blame yourself for any of this, Mae" she continued softly. "None of this is your fault"

"I let my feelings cloud my judgment!" Skye yelled, pulling herself from her Aunts arms and off the bed, to her feet where she began pacing. "I put everyone in more danger than necessary just to keep a damn secret!"

"Mae, you were just following orders" Maria tried to tell her.

"They were bullshit orders!"

"They were to protect you! To protect your family and your friends! Hydra will exploit any weakness they can find to gain control! If you revealed who you are to the wrong person before it was necessary, a lot more people could have been hurt!" Skye stayed silent but continued to pace, shooting her Aunt glares while she was at it. "They could have used your parents against you, or Trip, hell they could have found Bobbi just to use her against you!"

"Stop!" Skye yelled coming to a sudden halt in front of her Aunt. "You have no _right_ to bring up Bobbi! Bobbi has nothing to do with this!" Skye's voice cracks, tears making tracks down her cheeks once again as guilt plagued her at the thought of Bobbi. "All of this was for nothing, all of this work... for _nothing_! All the pain this family has been through, the suffering, all the time we've lost, the lives we could have had! It's been for nothing! Mom is gone and Dad doesn't even care that she is! I can't even _find_ Bobbi! Steve is in a hospital unconscious! Vic is dead! And for what?" Skye paused long enough to catch her breath before continuing.

"I could have done more" Skye said quietly. Maria tried to disagree but Skye cut her off again. "We both know I could have blown my cover without them knowing who I am, I have a fake name for a reason. SHIELD was so focused on levels and secrets and compartmentalization that we missed the big picture. They were right under our noses and no one noticed" Once again Maria tried to interrupt her to disagree but Skye held up her hand to stop it. "At what cost?" Skye asked a long pause took over the room."How many people paid the price for one secret? How many lives do we need to lose before it's too many?" Silence filled the room as Skye waited for her Aunt's rebuttal but it never came. The older woman shook her head and merely chuckled softly. Skye looked at her as if she were an alien.

"You sound just like Steve" Her Aunt told her from her spot on the edge of the bed. She looked up at her niece, a small smile taking over her face, eyes having gone a bit misty. "Before him I don't think I ever would have agreed with you, or him. The secrets, the levels, everyone that we've lost, that cost was too great, any life lost is too great." She stood from the bed to stand in front of Skye. "This was not your fault, you revealed yourself when it was safest to, the only person that could of got hurt was yourself and while I would never want that to happen it was the right thing to do" Maria told her sternly as she brushed a piece of Skye's hair behind her ear before she wrapped her in a hug.

"I'm not going to tell you everything is going to be okay, because we don't know that. But I can tell you a few things, your parents will be just fine. They're adults and they can handle their own issues, that isn't something you need to worry about. What happened to Victoria isn't and never will be your fault, and if she could she'd tell you the same damn thing. I can't tell you Bobbi is fine, but I can tell you what you already know, that she can take care of herself and that you'll find her, you always do. Everything won't be okay, and it won't be for awhile, but we are going to do the best we can with what we have because that's who we are, that's our job, to protect those who can't protect themselves."Maria pulled back from her niece, bringing both hands up to wipe the tears off Skye' cheeks and press a kiss to her forehead as Skye nodded.

"I have to get going, Mae" Maria told her as she looked at her watch. "I'm only a phone call away, your father has the encrypted number" Skye nodded again giving her Aunt one more hug. "I love you Mae, stay safe"

"You too" Skye murmured as she watched her leave.

* * *

Skye sat for minutes calming herself before she picked up the burner phone she'd bought at the corner store. She hesitantly typed in a number she long since memorized, letting her thumb hover above it a few seconds longer before finally hitting send. She took a deep breath as she pressed the phone to her ear, hearing it ring on the other end. It was answered after two short rings and Skye swallowed, still unready.

"Vic? Are you okay, baby?" The question came out in a timid whisper, a tone not usually made by Isabelle Hartley.

"Izzy, it's Skye"

"Skye?" Izzy questioned, the disappointment and confusion evident in her tone, a silence stretching over the line.

"Izzy, I'm so sorry" Skye finally managed to get out before she heard a muffled sob and the phone dropping to what Skye presumed was the floor. She couldn't tell you how long she sat on the line just listening to her friend grieve the loss of her wife. The seconds stretched to minutes before a completely different voice came over the line.

"Who is this?" The voice demanded harshly and Izzy's sobs seemed to fade out into the background. Skye froze, she knew that voice anywhere, had been searching for it for days and now she couldn't even bring herself to speak. "Hello?" the voice demanded again.

"Bobbi?" Skye's question came out as a strangled whisper.

"Porcupine?" The nickname come out as a sigh of relief over the line.

"Oh Bobbi, its so good to hear your voice" Skye sighed, feeling the large knot in her stomach start to marginally ease.

"I couldn't find you anywhere" Bobbi said in a rush. "What's happened? Are you okay? What's wrong with Izzy?" Her questions were frenzied, coming out all mashed together.

"I'm okay, Babs" Skye said softly. "Vic... Vic's gone" Skye heard Bobbi's sharp intake of breath over the line. She could almost see Bobbi struggling to figure out what to do, tied between being on the line with her and going to help her friend in pain. "It's okay Babs, go, be with Izzy, just tell me you're-"

"I'm okay, porcupine" Bobbi whispered.

"You have to destroy the phone okay? And stay safe, please" Skye told her.

"I will, and you too"

"I love you, Bobbi" Skye told her, shocked when she heard a relieved sigh come over the line again.

"I love you too, Mae, so much. We'll find each other soon okay?" Skye let out her own sigh of relief this time.

"Okay" And with that the line went dead. Skye snapped the phone in half quickly as she let tears of relief flood her eyes.

* * *

"Antoine Triplett, are you eating junk food?" Skye asked with a horrified gasp as she watched her friend pull food out of the vending machine.

"I'm on vacation" Trip answers with a grin.

"Until?"

"Until that man tells me it's time to work" He answers again, this time gesturing to her father as he makes his way out of his room. Phil just looks over the both of them, brushing a hand on Skye's shoulder as he makes his own way to the vending machine.

"Not tonight, live a little" He says with a grin making both of them smile.

"In that case I'm gonna go crazy, maybe have another bad" Tripp says with raised eyebrows as he moves away from the machine, he smiles at Skye's wide eyes before leaving her to talk with her father, heading over to Fitz-Simmons sitting by the edge of the pool.

"I've never been homeless before" Phil tells his daughter while feeding the vending machine money.

"It's not fun" She answers as if she has experience, as though all of the time she spent in that blue van wasn't a cover. "At least we have a pool" She jokes. After he grabs his candy bar they both just stare at each other, Phil taking in the lingering puffiness around his daughter's eyes.

"We'll get him" He tells her, as if saying it makes it fact.

"I know, I left them a little present when I decrypted the drive, should help" Skye told him with a small smirk as he sat down across from her.

"That's my girl" He couldn't stop his proud smile before he broke his candy bar in half and handed it to her.

"Thanks Daddy" She said with a smile as she took the offered bar, leaning back in her chair to look over the pool as her father did the same.

* * *

"I was hoping you'd come back" Phil said softly when he saw his wife standing in his room. "Ward is-"

"I know" Melinda said moving away from the desk she had been leaning on and taking a few steps closer to him. "Maria told me" She said just as softly. Phil just looked at her and nodded, seemingly trying to decide what to do next but before Melinda could open her mouth again to speak Phil took two large strides toward her and wrapped her in his arms tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Mel" He whispered in her ear.

"Me too" She whispered into his chest. Phil only squeezed her tighter, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I love you... So much" He told her.

"I love you too" They stayed like that for minutes before Melinda pulled back, a hand moving to the side of her husband's face, stroking his cheek softly. "There's something you need to see" She said, moving out of his arms and back towards the table, pulling the laptop sitting there open. "You wanted to know who was behind TAHITI? This is what I found out" She told him, he only looked at her confused before looking back at the screen and pressing play.

"Oh"


	15. Chapter 15

**Relief**

 _(Episode tag 2x22 S.O.S.)_

Bobbi was asleep when Skye finally got to her, bruises covering her face and bandage wrapped fingers, her leg propped on pillows in a large brace. Skye instantly found herself chewing on her bottom lip, eyes watering. They had both seen each other through some awful missions, but this was by far the worst she had ever seen the blonde. Anger surged through her at the thought of Ward doing this before it quickly turned into regret. Skye didn't even bother to hold back the tears as she sat in the chair next to Bobbi's bed, laying her hand over the blondes wrist, seeking the comfort of Bobbi's pulse under her fingertips. She wasn't sure how long she sat there before Bobbi finally woke.

"Porcupine?" The words are hushed and when Skye looks up at Bobbi's face she finds her blue eyes open wide and glassy. Skye is standing instantly and leaning over Bobbi, one hand holding her cheek while the other strokes the hair on the top of her head. A large smile takes over Skye's face before she leans down and presses her lips to Bobbi's, trying to be as gentle as possible. When Skye pulled back she watches as Bobbi tries to access the smile on her face and Skye suddenly realized this was the first time they would be speaking since the other SHIELD reared its head. All of that seemed so insignificant now as she accessed the damage both of them had been through.

"I'm so sorry, Mae" The words came out as a desperate plea and the sound broke Skye's heart.

"Sh, Baby" Skye coaxed her as she wiped at Bobbi's tears with her thumb, feeling her own eyes begin to water again as she pressed another quick kiss to Bobbi's mouth. "None of that matters now, all that matters is that you get better" Bobbi shook her head.

"I should have tol-"

"And I should have told you. You did what you thought was right on that ship the day SHIELD fell, you didn't know what was happening on the ground, just like we didn't know what was happening at sea. We both kept secrets and followed orders like the good little soldiers they trained us to be for what we thought were the right reasons but none of that matters now, okay?" Bobbi bit her lip before nodding and Skye smiled a small smile before placing her thumb on Bobbi's chin to coax her lip back out. "We're going to get through this, we always do, I'm not going anywhere" Bobbi nodded again and Skye sat back down in the chair next to her, pulling it as close to the bed as she could, leaving one hand by Bobbi's head and the other resting on her hip.

In quiet tones Skye told Bobbi everything that happened, starting with when Gordon came to the retreat and ending with getting to the fan room and seeing her father's arm severed with an axe. Bobbi listened through everything, reaching up to cup Skye's cheek and wipe a few stray tears when needed.

"What do you think they'll do with Cal?" Bobbi asked quietly when Skye was finished.

"Dad's looking into the TAHITI program, setting him up in California as a vet" Skye told her and Bobbi gave her a soft smile.

"I think he'd like that" Bobbi says, Skye just nods and looks as Bobbi, waiting patiently for her to talk. It was easy for them to fall into the familiar routine. Speaking in hushed tones a formed habit mostly because this always tended to happen at night when they finally got to see each other after long periods of time. Both recounting every detail of what happened while the other was away. Skye listened quietly through every excruciating detail, calming herself by running her fingers softly through Bobbi's soft hair.

"If I'd have known-"

"But you didn't, and I'm fine"

"I wouldn't call this fine, Barbra" Skye's tone is so sharp Bobbi doesn't even bother to fight the use of her full name. They both stare at each other tensely before Bobbi's eyes suddenly start to water.

"I was relieved" Bobbi whispers so quietly that Skye almost didn't catch it. The tears well in her eyes quickly before they spill over and before Skye can wipe them away again Bobbi pulls her face away from the touch, as if she is undeserving of it. "Someone was going to get a bullet in their brain because of me and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew it would be Hunter, but in that moment all I felt was relief... Relief that you were safe, relief that he couldn't hurt you because of me" The tears were falling in earnest again and Skye moved to wipe them away, this time giving Bobbi no choice but to accept the gesture.

"You're human, Babs" Skye told her softy, eyes trying to implore her to believe anyone else would have felt the same way. Bobbi just shook her head.

"I thought about using you to appeal to him, when Kara wasn't in the room, I thought about using your love for me as a weapon to throw him off, I was going-"

"You should have" Skye told her, cutting her off completely and all Bobbi could manage was a confused look in response. Bobbi didn't know what response she was expecting but it certainly wasn't that. "You use any mental weapon you have against a person like Ward, they affect him far more than any physical damage could" Skye smiled and leaned up to softly press a kiss to Bobbi's forehead. "Nothing you could possibly tell me is going to make me leave this room Barbara Morse, so stop trying" Bobbi's eyes watered again but Skye silently read her pained expression like a well read book.

"Hunter left when you told him didn't he?" Bobbi didn't even have to nod her head for Skye to know her assumption was correct. Bobbi remained silent though so Skye continued. "You were honest with him Bobbi, no matter what his reaction was, it was the right thing to do" Bobbi only nodded in response. "You're not a bad person, Bobbi" Skye told her quietly as she reached up and brushed back Bobbi's hair again. "I wouldn't love you so much if you were" A small smile stretched across Skye's face at the confession. "Besides if you're a bad person what does that make me?" She tried to joke but Bobbi's eyes filled with determination as she moved to hold Skye's cheek in her hand again.

"You're an angel, Mae" She said softly, her eyes were hard with belief as if they alone were trying to will Skye to agree. Skye couldn't bring herself to shake her head in disagreement, knowing that would only bring more pain into Bobbi's clear blue eyes, instead she turned her head to press a kiss into Bobbi's palm.

"If we're going to do this again, we need to do it right" Skye said softly after a long silence. Bobbi nodded in agreement.

"No more secrets, no more lies, no more hiding from each other" Bobbi agreed, Skye smiled softly and leaned up to kiss Bobbi again. "I love you, Mae" Bobbi whispered.

"I love you too, Barbara" Skye said and her smile only grew as Bobbi huffed and rolled her eyes. All the sudden there was a noise at the door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we're ready to prep you for surgery, Bobbi" Simmons announced from the doorway. Skye only smiled in response before pressing a firm kiss to Bobbi's forehead.

"I'll be here when you wake up" She promised and Bobbi nodded.

"Promise me when all of this is over we'll take some time away, just you and me" She asked and Skye was surprised at how timid the blondes question sounded.

"I promise" Skye said sealing it with another kiss to Bobbi's forehead before taking a step back to allowing Bobbi's doctors to move in. As Skye moved back through the lab to sit with her father, thoughts of beaches and clear blue eyes filled her head.


End file.
